


Porcelain

by PARNEL



Category: Xiaolin Showdown (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ancient China, M/M, Original Character(s), Romance, teahouse - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:33:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25179238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PARNEL/pseuds/PARNEL
Summary: After being transported to an alternate universe by a mysterious Shen Gong Wu and the Spirit that inhabits it, Jack Spicer makes a deal with the Spirit that will bring him power, wealth, and much, much more than he could've ever imagined.
Relationships: Jack Spicer/Chase Young
Comments: 41
Kudos: 100





	1. A Deal

**Author's Note:**

> I usually only read fanfiction and then make fanart, but I love Chack so much and I've had this idea in my head for awhile, so I thought I'd write this and share it here!
> 
> wünsche - Sunday vibes, is what I was listening to while I wrote this ;)

Jack Spicer was not what many would refer to as a “ _Lucky Person”._

He hadn’t won a single showdown he’d shown up to in the past six months. Desperation to obtain a Shen Gong Wu and the intense need to prove himself was wearing him thin, as were the bruises and bumps he’d collected during his encounters with the monks. In the last two weeks he’d put ten times the amount of his usual energy into developing new and improved Jack-bots and searching for Wu. He was living on energy drinks and takeout at this point. 

All his hard work had been worth it though. Or maybe he was just becoming a lucky person? Whatever. The specific cause of his success didn’t really matter to him right now. What mattered was that today he’d _finall_ _y_ won a showdown against those annoying monks. 

Jack stared down at the Wu clenched in his thin, pale hands. This Wu was called the _Aulic Teapot_ _._ Or something. Jack hadn’t really been paying attention. It didn’t look like much anyway, just a plain old porcelain teapot with blue flowers on it. The euphoria he currently felt from actually winning a showdown was strong enough to drown out any disappointment he felt about winning such a useless looking Wu. And as a bonus he’d won it in front of _Chase._ Hopefully his amazing intelligence and cunning had finally impressed the Heylin warrior... Jacks’ red eyes slid away from the teapot and towards the imposing form of Chase Young. Chase was... 

...Not paying him any attention at all. He stood with his arms crossed menacingly at the edge of the clearing they’d fought in, his golden eyes focused on the monks and Omi, an impassive yet faintly displeased expression on his face. Jack twitched in irritation. It just wasn’t _fair._ He deserved to be recognized, not stupid Omi and his monk friends. 

Jack wanted to be treated like a threat; like a worthy adversary. He wanted power and prestige and _recognition._ He wanted whole world wrapped in his hands, all his to crush and burn. The albino boiled with frustration; he’d worked so _hard_ for this; he was going to rule the world one day, he just knew it. If only others, like Chase Young, could appreciate his potential. 

Caught up in his angry thoughts, Jack didn’t notice the teapot in his hands slowly getting hotter, steam beginning to hiss from its spout. His eyes were fixed on the retreating forms of the monks and Chase. The Wu began whistling loudly, steam billowing out to swaddle the enraged 19-year-old. Jack screeched in alarm as the teapot grew hotter and hotter, he tried to tear his hands away, but they might as well have been superglued to the thing. 

Blue flowers, intricately painted on the porcelain begun moving and writhing under his hands, a bleeding red soon overtook the blue. 

Jack watched in horror as his hands sizzled sickeningly, the flesh of his palms cooking from the intense heat. Puckered pockets of pus and blisters sprouted from his skin as the heat of the teapot continued to increase. The steam around him picked-up speed, swirling frantically around his body. He screamed out for help; gaze torn between staring at the now glowing red teapot in his hands and the retreating forms of the others. They did not bother to even glance back at him.

He dizzily lurched sideways as his world became a haze of white steam, his vision becoming rapidly darker. The teapot howled, getting brighter while shadows of wings flapped around him ominously. Jacks legs gave out under him at the same time the steam parted to reveal a gaping azure portal. A pair of silver claws shot out at him, they clamped around his arms and dragged him forward. As soon as his face collided with the portal, he lost consciousness. 

**-o)0(o-**

Rain pattering gently onto the side of his face was what woke Jack up. Tensing his limbs made pain shoot up through every part of his body, and he became intensely aware of his scorched palms. 

_“Ow.”_ Jack whined while spitting dirt and grass out of his mouth. It took a few more minutes of whining and slowly moving his body before Jack was sitting up and able to take in his surroundings. 

Heavy green trees draped over the small grassy clearing he’d wound up in. It was early morning, but the sun had not yet risen. A few feet away from where he’d landed there was a small natural hot spring, simmering and bubbling and surrounded by lush bushes and strange blue flowers. What really drew Jacks’ attention though, was the statue towering ominously over the hot spring. 

It was made from a strange deep blue colored rock. Jack squinted at it. It was maybe... Sodalite? It was probably Sodalite. Jack knew how to identify almost any kind of metal or stone; it was a helpful thing when working with machinery and weird magical objects.

The statue was about six feet tall and carved into the shape of an owl. It sat under a small wooden structure that was covered in moss and looked like maybe it’d been painted blue and gold at one point, but time had flaked and peeled most of the paint away. Nestled into the owls’ clawed feet were lit candles and food offerings, such as fruit and bread, most of the owl was even draped in flower garlands and beaded jade necklaces. 

Directly at the base of the owl shrine sat the Aulic Teapot, now back to its normal blue and white coloring rather than burning red. 

Jack shivered, cradling his burned hands to his chest. The rain had soaked his clothes and the way the owl seemed to be staring down at him was giving him chills. ‘ _Great. Just great_ _. I finally get a Wu_ _again_ _and all it does is burn my hands and send me to some weird shrine.'_ He didn’t even activate the thing, it just decided to wake up on its own and ruin his day. 

Grumpily muttering to himself, Jack made his way slowly over to the statue, aware of every twinge and ache in his legs. He was going to make that stupid pot send him _back._ There was no way he was hanging around this place any longer than he had to, even if it was kind of interesting and -he had to admit– beautiful. The creepy owl was freaking him out. He nervously pushed his soggy red hair from his forehead with his wrist and trudged onward around the spring. 

As he moved closer to the owl, his anxiousness grew. 

He knelt at the grassy base of the statue, right in front of the hot spring. Steam billowed up around him, beading water along his pale face. The steam parted for the statue unnaturally, as if pushed away by some invisible force, Jack forced himself to turn his attention to the teapot before him. He extended his scorched and raw hand forward, shaking in fear, he _re_ _ally_ did not want to get burned again. On the ground, the teapot hissed a little. 

“That's it... nice teapot, that’s a goo- _AAH_ _!_ _“_ Jack cut himself off with a screech, tumbling backwards in shock. 

A pitch-black owl, the same height as the statue it’d suddenly emerged from, swooped down towards Jack clacking its beak threateningly. Jack was squished to the grass on his back, frozen in fear as the Owl leaned forward menacingly. Large, solid black eyes stared at him from a silver-colored heart shaped face. The owl leaned back a little and Jack let out a relieved whimper. It opened its beak and began to speak, 

“ _Jack Spicer, Welcome.”_ A deep, husky feminine voice greeted him. 

“Uuh, Hi- uh, big owl...lady?” Jack babbled back nervously. The Owl tilted her head in amusement.

Jack nervously scooted towards the teapot, ready to escape the owl. She watched him impassively, like she was watching her prey do something particularly boring. He took his chances, and snatched the teapot up quickly, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation. 

And... nothing happened. 

Peeking one red eye open, Jack saw that he was still in the clearing, with the creepy Owl staring down at him. He’s pretty sure she's smirking. Could owls smirk? 

“ _You cannot leave, Jack.The Aulic Teapot only works once for every individual who touches it.”_ The Owl spoke, shifting closer. Jack stared up at her angrily, forgetting for a second that he was talking to a huge deadly looking owl. 

“What do you mean, ‘it only works once’? What the hell is it supposed to do anyway? Why am I here, and who are you-”? Jack was cut off when the Owl suddenly snapped one huge wing forward. Her deadly sharp primary feathers lashed out at the pot in his hands, swiping it away magically to who-knows-where. 

“ _Silence. Your voice... is grating.”_ The Owl grumbled, ignoring Jacks offended expression and settling back down on her clawed legs. 

“ _I am_ _Yawen_ _, spirit of the Aulic Teapot. You are here in my home_ _universe_ _Jack, because_ _the Teapot_ _and I_ _ha_ _ve_ _willed it so._ _Its_ _purpose is to give_ _its_ _owner what they need, and nothing more._ _I am_ _just_ _the one who fuels_ _its_ _power._ _It seems that it has_ _sensed_ _that you need to be here, for some purpose or another._ _”_ As she spoke, Jack noticed her body was slightly blurred around the edges, like looking into a clouded mirror. 

“ _I will offer you a deal, Jack. You cannot return to your home_ _universe_ _ever again. You_ _will,_ _however, find certain similarities between here and your old_ _universe_ _, but they will not be similar enough to bring you comfort._ _Life here illl be hard for you._ _But if_ _you take my offer, I p_ _romise you will_ _gain_ _all that you_ _desire_ _:_ _power, prestige, and more."_ The Owl crooned temptingly to him. 

Never return? He didn’t even know what the rest of this place even looked like... He did feel tempted though. Power? It was something he craved above all else. In his own world, he had nothing that would be recognized as impressive by the Heylin _and_ Xiaolin, or even in the regular world that his parents nagged him so often to be a part of. They didn’t care for him; he’d been swallowed by a portal and none of them so much as tried to help. And Chase, his idol, would never look at him with interest. Jack knew that much, though he had repressed the thought often. Here in this new world the truth came to him again, blaring across every inch of his brilliant and evil mind; No one he’d known would ever have any interest in Jack Spicer. 

Jack wasn’t the complete idiot everyone assumed he was though. 

“Deals go both ways, Yawen. What do you want in return?” He asked, shrewdly looking up at the owl spirit. 

“ _I want you as my apprentice, Jack. You will do what I ask of you without question, but I do not ask of things often, so you needn’t worry._ _In return for our deal I will gain a_ _moldable_ _apprentice, who I have seen to be brimming with potential._ _Your power will be great, Jack, under my training and protection you will grow strong and_ _powerful_ _. You will_ _want for nothing in this life.”_ Yawen’s offer was irresistible to Jack, and really, what did he have to lose? The life he’d built for the past 19 years was gone; faced with this new world, Jack found himself ready to move on to greater things. 

“Alright, I’ll agree to this deal.” He announced, after a few more minutes of pretending to think it over so he didn’t look too eager. 

If owls could look gleeful, that’s what Yawen’s silver face would look like. She puffed up proudly, lifting a clawed hand she brought her beak down and bit herself, drawing dark blue blood. The Aulic Teapot suddenly appeared between them, Yawen took off the lid and held her bleeding clawed appendage over the pot ominously. 

“ _Then let us swear our deal.”_ She drawled, as her blood dripped into the teapot it began to glow an intense blue. Jack looked down at his hands, the swollen mass of his palms suddenly swelled with blood, it gurgled sickeningly up out of his skin and he quickly moved his hands to hover over the pot as well, letting the blood pour in. 

The teapot whistled and grew brighter, before vanishing in an intense flash of light. 

Jack felt suddenly exhausted, he stumbled. 

Yawen was beyond pleased, Jack could somehow tell. She turned to him and –again- he somehow felt that she was doing the owl equivalent of a grin. 

_“Well, for_ _your first task, Lets clean things up a little. Jump into the hot spring.”_ Yawen commanded him. Jack felt panic rush him back into being alert. Magic from their deal took over his body and forced his limbs to move toward the simmering water, and without hesitation, he jumped in. 

Jack felt as though he’d been submerged in bubbly soda, honestly. Bubbles rushed around him, rolling ever every inch of his skin, through his hair and over his scalp. It peeled away layer after layer of grime and filth that’d accumulated over the past few months. His body relaxed into it; the water was even surprisingly comfortable. It was a soft warmth that enveloped him, his hands and bruises ceased to hurt. Jack lost himself in the murky water, floating endlessly in its blue tinted depths. 

A silver clawed foot suddenly plunged itself down into the water, rushing towards him. It gripped the front of his black trench coat and hauled him back to the surface. 

Jack Spicer emerged with a deep gasp, the water and grime sluicing off his body in thick waves until he was left clean and gleaming white as he was when he was a newborn. Yawen gently deposited him down onto the grass and let him examine himself. 

His hands were no longer swollen and burning, all that remained were raised pink burn scars across his palms in the shape of flowers that matched the flower designs on the Aulic Teapot. His whole body felt so _clean._ Jack wriggled happily in place, enjoying the smoothness of his skin . His hands wandered up to his head , skimming over his round cheeks before burrowing into his now grease- free hair. ullingg his hair forward so he could look at i- _w_ _ait w_ _hat the fuck_.

His hair was white. The stupid magical hot tub had gotten rid of his red hair dye. 

“Hey! Yawen wha-” he started, 

“- _No complaining. I can’t stand uncleanliness_ _,_ _and that awful hair dye reeked of chemicals._ _”_ Yawen scolded, looking down sternly at him with her big black eyes. 

Too afraid to argue with his new bird-master(?), he grumbled to himself for a while. His hair hadn’t been its natural color since he was... eight? Sometime around that age. He hated his white hair; it made him look...weird. 

“ _As my_ _apprentice_ _, you will only have to meet me_ _once a month to train for a whole night. For the rest of the time... I will place you in the hands of my most trusted_ _worshippers_ _._ _It may seem that I have sent you to a lackluster life at first, but do not doubt my_ _decision_ _._ _Trust this Jack Spicer; I always honor my deals_ _..._ _”_ Yawen went on after that, like what she just said wasn’t super shady. Jack lost interest in her words after awhile and curiously watched as she drew herself up, growing larger and larger until she stood taller than the trees. 

Her body shimmered in the morning light as the sun began to break over the horizon. Like a cloud of blue smoke, she lifted above the trees as one of her silver claws snatched up Jack like a bug. Then, with a beat of her great wings, she rose into the sky. 

Clouds and miles of green rushed past them as Yawen flew. Speeding over a great city with colorful architecture Jack thought looked very similar to the buildings in China, but much older. 

Yawen was an inky blue blot in the awakening sky. Fresh, cool air rushed across Jacks cleansed face and he felt more alive than ever before, a grin broke out on his face and he whooped in excitement. He could feel amusement coming from Yawen, maybe they had some kind of mental link now as apprentice and master? Now that he focused on it, he could feel a small pressure in his mind, like a band attached to the side of his head. He’d have to ask her about that. Actually, Jack just realized he’d have to ask her about a lot of things. Like were there Heylin and Xiaolin in this universe? Were there Shen Gong Wu here too? Was there another Jack Spicer here he’d have to worry about? And more importantly; was there Wi-Fi? Toilets? Jack didn’t think there was Wi-Fi or toilets, based on the buildings they were flying past. Oh _fuck_ , he’d been sent to some godforsaken ancient city- 

Jack was drawn out of his train of thought when they landed on the balcony of a tall, elaborate looking building. Yawen set him down gently before shrinking in size and rapping on the balcony door with her beak. Jack rushed over to the railing to get a better look at where they were. The building was a comforting eggshell blue and white and was wrapped in vines and creeping flowers along almost every surface. It was also –he noted with growing interest- on a river, the building balancing halfway on stilted columns and halfway on a small lush island that was in the center of the small river. Several small bridges branched out over the river to allow people to travel back and forth to the building. Turning his attention towards the east, Jack’s jaw dropped in awe. 

The biggest Imperial palace Jack had ever seen sat on the east side of the river, from where Jack was positioned, it’s solid jade walls glowed in the morning sunlight. Layers upon layers of golden adornments and embellishments decorated the palace, visible even from a distance. The palace rose from the overwhelmingly lush trees and colorful buildings like a mountain, striking boldly into the sky for all to see it and gaze in awe. 

The royalty that most likely lived there, Jack surmised, were _definitely_ rich. 

“ _Jack?”_ Yawen called from behind him. 

The Albino turned to see her and found another woman standing next to the large owl. The woman was most likely Chinese (Jack also needed to ask what the hell this country was called?) with a smooth round face, dark cinnamon-colored skin, and black eyes that sparkled kindly. She looked like a kind person, her face was youthful but her slightly grey-streaked hair gave away her true age. 

“Oh!” The woman gasped in shock upon seeing his face, 

“It’s okay, I look weird, I know.” Jack mumbled out, embarrassed. His red eyes probably stood out even more against his pure white skin and hair. 

“No, it’s just-” The woman started, 

“ _Jack.”_ Yawen scolded, cutting into the conversation, 

“ _This is Liao_ _Liling_ _, or Lady Liao to you,_ _owner of the Sapphire Serpent Teahouse. You will be working for her when you are not required to be with me_ _.”_ she continued, stretching out a broad wing toward Lady Liao. Her other wing beckoned Jack forward and nudged him towards the Teahouse owner. She smiled up at him warmly, Jack noticed she was very short, much smaller than him. 

Wait. Jack just realized they’d been speaking English the entire time. Or maybe not? Huh. He decided to chalk the whole language thing up to being some weird perk of his mental link with Yawen, he’d ask about it next time he saw her. 

“ _I will return for you on the night of the full moon. Stay safe and be polite, my apprentice.”_ Yawen said shortly, before taking off into the sky. 

Jack felt uncomfortably like his mother had just abandoned him in the supermarket. 

Lady Liao patted his arm soothingly “Come, we’ll get you situated!” 

**-o)0(o-**

Lady Liao, Jack soon discovered, really liked to talk. Was this how he sounded to the monks? He hoped not... 

“Oh, we are so blessed by your presence, Jack. The Great Spirit’s apprentice! In _my_ Teahouse! This is almost as great as when Emperor Dashi himself first came to the Sapphire Serpent! He was such a charmer you know, why if I was of higher standing, I'd have thrown myself at him. Does that sound bad? I hope not, he _is_ the Emperor, anyone would’ve thrown themselves at him, especially if he showed up to make their Teahouse his _O_ _fficial_ _Favorite_ _Teahouse_. Oh, but I'm getting off track now! The family will be so proud when they learn about you. The Liao family has long been dedicated to the Great Spirit, her blessings have brought us to the great wealth and prosperity we have now. You must be very lucky to have been able to become her apprentice...” She babbled on, bumbling around the left side of the third floor where most of the servant's quarters were. 

Jack was totally not listening. He gazed around the room looking interestedly at everything and blocking out Lady Liao's’ voice. 

“Ugh! I know I have a uniform for you somewhere, it’s been so long since I’ve hired a man to work as a host. Usually I end up hiring women, but I don’t think I want you working out in the sun and burning yourself up, so host it is for you... It’s got to be around here somewhere...” Lady Liao muttered, still searching. 

“AHA!” She cried out suddenly, shocking Jack out of his bored haze. She held up sleek dark black robes, simply embroidered with a few writhing blue serpents. 

“Now you go put this on and take off those weird clothes, I'll send Kimiko up here to take you down to the kitchens when you’re done, alright?” 

Jack nodded a yes and Lady Liao left quickly, leaving him in a dazed sort of shock. Kimiko? The monk? Jack knew Yawen had said there would be similarities, but he hadn’t thought he’d be seeing them so soon. Hopefully she wasn’t as annoying as the Kimiko that Jack had known. 

He changed into the new robes quickly, stashing his old clothes inside a woven chest beside his sleeping mat in his new room that he now shared with two other people he hadn’t met yet. There was one mirror in the hallway outside his room, Jack paused to look at himself for a moment. 

He wasn’t completely unrecognizable. He was still Jack Spicer, Evil Boy Genius and future ruler of the world, even if it was now a different world than the one he’d originally planned to rule. Without his red hair and black eyeliner, he looked... somehow smaller and softer than before. Less aggressively vibrant and more ghostly, like a red-eyed demon with paper-white skin, shockingly pale in comparison to any environment he entered. He wasn’t sure he really liked it. Jack had never been comfortable with his natural coloring, it set him apart from others, made him feel like the outsider in every situation. 

A hand tapped Jacks’ shoulder, drawing him out of his thoughts, he turned around to see who was there and then froze- 

“Hi! Oh wow- You're the new guy. Jack, right? I'm Kimiko Tohomiko, Lady Liao sent me up here to get you. It’s nice to meet you!” Kimiko thrust her hand forward excitedly, she looked exactly as she had in Jack’s universe, except friendlier and in the same uniform he was wearing. 

Jack shook himself out of his shock and took her hand, 

“Yeah, Jack Spicer. It’s nice to meet you too, Kimiko.” 


	2. The Teahouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dragon Boy-Joe Hisaishi , from the Spirited Away soundtrack is what I listened to for this chapter, I hope y'all enjoy this one! :))

“Jack! Are you paying attention? If you don’t learn how to make tea without burning the herbs, we’ll have angry customers left and right! The _Sapphire Serpent_ has a reputation to uphold, you know...” Lady Liao scolded him, they were in the back of the Teahouses’ huge kitchen on the first floor, and Jack was ready to pass out after the long day and eventful morning he’d had. 

Kimiko had left him down here with Lady Liao about seven hours ago. Jack found he kind of missed her presence, Lady Liao was sweet and all but there was only so much he could learn about tea in one day. 

And it’d been fun talking to Kimiko. This version of her seemed to have the same fiery personality as the one he’d known, but was far less likely to beat him up on sight. 

After Kimiko had found him, they’d begun making their way down the many levels of the gigantic building. Jack learned that there were seven floors total, and an extra basement level inside the island where the boiler room was located. This universe hadn’t even come close to inventing elevators yet, so to travel up and down you either had to use the stairs or a small pulley system (Jack was already mentally creating schematics and plans for an improved pulley). As they went down, he noticed the many attendants and hostesses working in the teahouse, and they noticed him. There were a _lot_ of women, even without his coloring Jack was sure he would’ve still stuck out like a sore thumb among them. 

They were all very beautiful too, each in their own unique way. Jack had felt supremely awkward walking past their curious stares and whispers. He’d turned his attention away from the women and gazed at the interior of the teahouse in an attempt to ignore their stares. 

What started out as a distraction soon devolved into drooling in awe as he took in the elaborately decorated tearooms and tables. 

Every floor seemed to follow the same blue and white color theme. Everywhere he looked he saw ornate blue pots bursting with brilliant green plants that stretched out across the rooms, lazily wafting their pleasant scents into the air. 

Silver gilded tables with large cushy-looking blue chairs were spattered about, their surfaces decorated with candles and _xiangqi_ boards. Large windows along the walls were tossed open to allow a gentle rain-scented breeze in, as well as give the customers access to the equally resplendent porches. 

And the _people_... Jack was shocked to see every kind of person imaginable intermingling peacefully amidst the haze of steaming fragrant tea that clouded the air. There were young people, old people, women and men. Everyone from the lowliest fisherman to the highest noble interacted on an almost equal level, sharing stories and gossip. They came together to form a sea of people that boasted clothing in every color and type of fabric, from the most modest brown to the silkiest gold. 

There were also a lot of animals around, which was weird. At one point he saw a lady talking to what looked like her pet beaver, he wondered what that was about. 

Unfortunately, Jack had begun to draw stares from the customers as well and he seemed way too overwhelmed by the situation to be able to handle it. Kimiko noticed this and put a comforting hand on his arm, leading him away from the crowds and to an out of sight servant's staircase. 

“Sorry about that, I remember my first day here too. I was so overwhelmed I poured tea all over the hostess I was shadowing! But don’t worry, you’ll get used to it with time.” Kimiko smiled at him; her catlike features were accentuated by the expression. Jack smiled back, it looked more like an awkward grimace than a smile, but Kimiko seemed pleased by it. 

“You must not be from around here. Well okay, I’m being dumb, _of course_ you’re not from around here. There's no shame in that though! But I'm so curious, we don’t get new people from outside the Capital very often... Especially not ones as exotic looking as you, if you don’t mind me saying ! It must be so different outside the Capital. I’ve never been outside of the city, but one day I’ll get out of here and go on an _adventure,_ you know? ” Kimiko rambled on excitedly for a while and Jack was content to listen quietly to it while he followed her through elaborate hallways and winding staircases. He wasn’t really sure how he felt about being called _exotic._ But whatever. She didn’t seem malicious about it, merely curious. 

“-So why _are_ you here, Jack? You don’t seem like the type to go into the tea business.” Kimiko interrupted her own rambling to ask him lightly, slanting her catlike eyes to the side to observe him. 

“I’m, uh, here to work as a task from my Master when she’s too busy to train me. She’s connected to Lady Liao.” Jack answered awkwardly, unsure of how much information he should tell her. 

“You’re an apprentice? Ohh, that makes much more sense. Who is your Master?” Kimiko questioned, turning to look at him more. 

Jack paused, uncertain. He squinted his red eyes in thought, Yawen hadn’t said anything yet about talking about their deal. He figured mentioning the inter-dimensional travel to anyone was a big No-No, but Yawen had flown over the city this morning in plain sight of everyone so he guessed he could talk about her. 

“...My master is Yawen, the Great Spirit. Y’know, big bird lady-” Kimiko’s eyes bugged out of her head and she rushed forward, slapping her small hand over Jacks' mouth and dragging him into a secluded corner. 

“Your master is the _Great Spirit?”_ Kimiko hissed at him quietly in shock, searching his face for any trace of a lie. 

“Mhmfph” Jack replied, shaking his head yes, and staring at her uncertainly. Did people here not like Yawen or something? 

“Jack. You can’t just go around mentioning stuff like that, promise me you won't mention she’s your master to anyone else!” Kimiko scolded him, suddenly very serious. She lifted her hand from his mouth. 

“Why? What’s wrong with her being my-” Kimiko hissed again, pressing her hand over his mouth to make him shut up. 

“ _Because_ Yawen is the most vied after spirit in the Capital, maybe even the _world._ People pray and beg day and night for her to bless them with her presence. Everyone knows that the Great Spirit is extremely generous with those she deems worthy, yet also very stingy about deeming anyone worthy. It is a great blessing to even have a small deal with her, and it’s a sign of _great_ fortune to be named her apprentice. If you reveal this to everyone, you may be killed out of jealousy by someone deemed unworthy of her attentions. I don’t know where you’re from, but it must be very far away from here if you don’t know not to throw the Spirits’ name around lightly.” Kimiko whispered; Jack eyed her warily. 

“How come you’re not jealous? And why are you helping me out?” Jack questioned suspiciously. 

Kimiko huffed and stepped back, looking irritated with her hands settled on her hips. 

“I make my own luck, Jack. Personally, I don’t want any Spirit messing with my life. I’ll get out of here someday, but it’ll be because of myself.” Kimiko announced confidently, tossing one of her pigtails behind her shoulder. 

“And as for why I’m helping you out... well, you’re going to be shadowing me for a while till you get a hang of the job, so it’s my job to watch out for you. And you seem like a nice person, I don’t want to see you get hurt.” She continued quietly, before stepping quickly out of the corner. 

“Now come on, Idiot, promise me you won’t mention it and we can get going. We don’t want to keep Lady Liao waiting, she’s aggressively serious about punctuality.” Kimiko teased, tugging the sleeve of his robe lightly. 

Jack had promised her, and they’d continued down the Teahouse, Kimiko drawing him into a surprisingly interesting conversation about the building... 

His deal with Yawen and introduction to Kimiko all felt like so long ago now, even though it was only this morning that both had occurred. Jack was dead on his feet at this point, following Lady Liao around the kitchen and being introduced to most of the staff. He was pretty sure he hadn’t retained any of the information he’d been told. 

Lady Liao noticed him swaying on his feet and tutted at him. 

“Silly child, you can always tell me when you’re tired, Jack, you won't be punished for it.” She admonished, gently leading Jack from the kitchen and out of the back doors. The Sun was low in the sky, painting it a murky afternoon orange. Jack felt even more lethargic in the muggy outside air as Lady Liao led him to a small building covered in tiled mosaics of swooping cranes and swirling fish. 

“Unfortunately, we still need to talk in my office before you sleep. This is the servant's bathhouse, clean yourself up, you can take your time and relax. I’ll send someone down in about thirty minutes to retrieve you, and after we talk you can get some rest. Alright?” Lady Liao questioned. Jack mumbled some kind of affirmative, and she left him to wander into the bathhouse after pushing a bundle of everyday-wear robes and a soap bar into his hands. 

Inside, he found a huge blue tiled pool with several small fountains that emptied out into the pool. Thankfully, no one else was inside, so Jack had the bathhouse to himself. Sinking into the warm water with a groan, Jack slowly cleaned himself with the soap, and then relaxed into the water with his eyes drifting blissfully shut. 

**-o)0(o-**

“Do you think he’s dead?” 

“No... I think I saw his chest move. Oh wait... maybe it was just the water?” 

“Kimi. Lady Liao’s going to kill us if he’s dead.” 

“He is not dead Tomoko! Look, his eyes are moving –Jack!” 

A familiar voice woke Jack out of his nap. He was... in water? Oh yeah, he’d been in the bathhouse and- 

_“AAH!”_ He shrieked, suddenly flailing in the pool and trying-yet-failing to cover himself from the two older girls waiting by the edge of the pool. They grimaced at the sound of his shrill voice echoing in the bathhouse, their eyes politely averted as he hurriedly shoved on a black robe. 

“Sorry Jack, Lady Liao sent us to fetch you for her. She mentioned that you seemed tired, but not _that_ tired. You’re lucky you didn’t drown before we got here!” Kimiko commented, her voice a weird mixture of teasing and chastising. There was a brown-haired girl standing next to her, slightly taller than Kimiko but with very similar facial features. The girl cleared her throat and sent Kimiko a pointed look. 

“Oh yeah! Jack, this is my sister Tomoko, you’ll be sharing a room with us, so I thought I’d introduce you guys!” Kimiko announced, looking back and forth between them. 

“I think I’ve been more than introduced,” Tomoko commented dryly, glancing up and down his now-clothed body. Jack blushed scarlet, “-Tomoko Tohomiko, nice to meet you.” She finished, holding out a hand good naturedly. 

While shaking her hand, his stomach suddenly growled loudly, and he felt uncomfortably grumpy after being awakened. The sisters shared a small laugh at the noise and his irritated face, before linking their arms in his and frog-marching him back to the teahouse together. 

Jack didn’t know how he’d survived going up all the staircases to get to the sixth floor where Lady Liao's’ office was located, Tomoko and Kimiko were probably the main reason he was still standing. They’d left him at a pair of large ornate doors, gleaming gold in the evening lamplight, and promised to be outside when he was done with his meeting. 

Jack opened one of the doors after knocking nervously and hearing a faint ‘Come in’. 

Lady Liao’s office was done almost entirely in deep azure and silver colors, and in the corner of the room there was a small shrine to Yawen littered with candles, flowers, and coins. 

Remembering his link with Yawen, he focused inwards for a second. A soft blue-grey color danced behind his eyes as he mentally strummed the band of tension in his mind that connected him to her. He could feel her consciousness faintly, her emotions were even and gentle like a cool stream. Her presence was a balm to his contrastingly fiery and overactive mind. 

“Jack, I’m glad to see you looking a little less exhausted. I want to apologize for today, sometimes I get a little overexcited when it comes to talking about tea...” Lady Liao trailed off, gesturing for him to sit on a plush chair by her desk. 

“ Yawen wanted me to explain a few things to you, she told me you’re from a village out near the Borderlands, and might need a little educating.” Lady Liao mentioned, distractedly shifting around some papers on her desk. Jack nodded along to whatever she said, mentally writing down Yawen’s backstory for him. 

“Ah, here we go,” She spread out a large map onto the desk, Jack leaned forward in interest. It looked like a map of Eastern Asia. There was only one country firmly depicted on the map, it was labeled _合并_ _,_ Jack realized it _was_ Chinese, and instantly recognized it as the word _Hébìng_ _._ There were other cities outside of the country , in an area labeled _Borderlands_ _,_ they seemed to be unassociated with each other and very small. A few other continents that looked different from the ones on Jack’s Earth were also depicted, and simply labeled “Uninhabitable.”. 

Jack suddenly realized Lady Liao had been talking the entire time he’d been musing over the map, and that this time what she was saying was most likely very important. 

“...Our great country was formed hundreds of years ago by two tribes who had long fought with one another... The _Xiaolin_ and the _Heylin_ had fought for many centuries, until a union between the leaders of both tribes was tied . From then on, the two tribes merged completely. They were strong and had great numbers, swiftly taking over other villages. Their conquering of the continent led to the birth of the First Country ; called Hébìng.” Lady Liao tapped a manicured finger against a huge city located at the heart of Hébìng, “We are here, in the Capital City .” she stated, the city was labelled _权力_ , or, _Quánlì_ _._

_“_ I’m sure you’ve noticed the Palace across the river, yes?” She questioned, Jack nodded yes. 

“I’m also sure you already know about the Emperor and the Royal family, but we’ll go over it just to be thorough.” Lady Liao explained, “It’ll also be very helpful; The Sapphire Serpent is the Royal family's _favorite_ teashop in all of Hébìng, you will probably end up serving them tea someday...” she added on giddily, gazing towards the eastern window of her office with a dreamy expression. 

“Hmm. Back to the subject... Emperor Dashi Young is our current ruler, The Emperor has one brother: Prince Hannibal Young, who was banished long ago with his witch wife for treason. Emperor Dashi has three children with the late Empress. They are, in order of age from oldest to youngest: Prince Guan, Prince Chase, and Princess Shadow.” Lady Liao rambled, unaware of Jack’s sudden internal screeching. She babbled on a bit more, but Jack didn’t catch any of it. 

_‘_ _Chase Young._ _’_

Not only that. It was _Prince_ Chase Young here. Jacks’ life couldn’t get any more embarrassing or weird than this. 

Yawen had mentioned some similarities, but this was shaping up to be a hell of a lot of similarities. It was kind of freaky that Jack had been basically kidnapped to a different universe by a magic teapot and still wound up running into alternate versions of almost all the people he’d known. What was it Yawen had said about the Aulic Teapot? Its purpose was to ‘ _give its owner what they need, and nothing more.’_ _._ Why the hell did he need these assholes? Hadn’t he just left a universe full of them? 

“...And that’s about it. Do you have any questions for me?” Lady Liao finished up her rant, looking at him expectantly. _Shit._ He really needed to start paying attention to peoples’ long rants, sometimes they were useful. 

“Uhm. Yeah...” Jack drawled, looking down at the map. He flung one pale hand out and pointed at the continents labeled “Uninhabitable”. “What are these? Are they really uninhabitable?” he questioned. 

Lady Liao pursed her lips in thought, thinking about her response. 

“Well... no, people do live there, but the climate is harsh and unsuitable for sustaining crops and large cities. The populations there also small enough that they’re not considered as actual cities and villages by the map makers and are subsequently not added to any of our maps. The people outside of Hébìng are usually very different from us too... Oh yes! I forgot, Yawen also informed me that you may be from a village far enough away from the Capital where people do not have common knowledge of _Shifting_?” Lady Liao questioned, watching his reaction to the last word intensely. 

Jack stared blankly back at her. He had no clue what ‘Shifting’ was. 

Lady Liao hummed knowingly and leaned back into her chair, thoughtful. Then, an excited grin overtook her beautiful round face. 

“Do you want to see an example?” she asked, Jack nervously shook his head to say yes. He really hoped this wasn’t something freaky, he wasn’t awake enough to deal with something freaky. 

Lady Liao stood up from her chair, emerging from behind her desk to stand in the middle of the room, holding her arms above her head. ‘ _Oh god this is probably_ _gonna_ _be something really weird-’_

Jack watched in fascinated horror as the skin of her arms _rolled_ downwards from her fingertips, like a wave was under her skin. Dark brown fur sprouted from the tips of her fingers; the transformation rushed down her body. She began slowly shrinking while coarse brown fur continued to pierce through her skin, her nails darkened to an oily black and elongated out to form claws. Limbs shrinking and bones cracking into different positions. Her face was what enraptured Jack the most. Collapsing nostrils darkened into an animal-like nose, fur grew quickly all over her round face, the irises of her eyes expanded until the whites became thin. She shrunk and shrunk towards the floor, her clothes disappearing. Jack leaned forward over the desk to see what’d happened. 

And he saw... an Otter? 

“Impressive, am I not?” She chittered daintily from the floor, lifting her little wet nose into the air to sniff at him. This day was adding up to be one weird thing after another. He might be having a fever dream actually, that seemed more likely than this all being real. 

“Yes?” Jack replied uncertainly, “So Shifting is a thing that... people can do here?”. Jack’s mind worked quickly to put the pieces together. So _that’s_ why there were so many animals in the teahouse today. 

“Yes!” Lady Liao squeaked excitedly, clambering up onto her desk to be eye to eye with him. 

“There are many magical artifacts held in the depths of the Imperial Palace, known as _Shen Gong Wu_ , the Emperor possesses all the Wu that have ever been created. The First Emperor of Hébìng, who lived hundreds of years ago, originally gathered all the Wu here in the Capital city _Quánlì_ as a sign of strength. He didn’t know that their close proximity to one another would cause a buildup of magical energy over the years, creating a sort of... bubble, or magical radius, within which every living and inanimate thing becomes saturated with magic.” 

“As a result of our closeness to the Wu, the people here have permanently developed the ability to Shift into certain animals that match their own nature. As you get further away from Quánlì, less people have developed the ability to use magic and shift easily. Certain people are more powerful than others due to their own natural affinity for magic and can Shift at will, while others can only achieve a Shift during the full moon. If you’re going to be staying in Quánlì for a long period of time, you may want to talk to Yawen about mastering your Shift, I’m not really the best at teaching that sort of thing...” Lady Liao chittered, seeming to have finally become tired of speaking. 

_‘Wow.’_ That was... a lot of information for one day. Jack sat in a daze on the comfy blue office chair, his mind rushing through everything he’d been told today. 

He stared blankly out in front of himself for a few moments before little brown eyes filled his vision. Lady Liao tutted worriedly at him. 

“Oh dear, I might’ve overwhelmed you by talking too much. Why don’t you head to bed? I’m sure Kimiko and Tomoko are waiting outside for you.” She’d jumped to marble floor while she’d talked and was now tugging at the bottom of his robe. Jack stood groggily and followed Lady Liao’s little otter form to the doors. 

Stepping out of the office, Jack was immediately assaulted by the Tohomiko sisters. 

“Surprise!” Kimiko called out, shoving several warm pastries into his face. Tomoko stood behind her, calmly holding a porcelain bowl of fruit and a cup of steaming tea. Jack looked at both of them for a second with a confused expression, too exhausted to put two and two together. 

“We thought we’d bring you some food, you can eat it before bed.” Tomoko explained. 

“Girls, that’s very thoughtful of you. Jack seems to be a little exhausted from our conversation though, would you please make sure he gets to the servants' quarters safely?” Lady Liao chattered up from the ground. The Tohomiko sisters looked down at her in surprise. 

“Of course, Lady Liao!” they chimed together, and started hauling Jack down to the third floor. 

By the time they’d gotten to the third floor, Jack had four pastries and several pieces of fruit shoved into his mouth and was barely keeping his eyes open. 

Tomoko and Kimiko set him gently down on his mat in their room. He weakly dragged himself into the covers and sank immediately into a deep sleep, with the comforting hum of Yawens’ mind against his. 

**-o)0(o-**

Over the course of the last three and a half weeks of Jacks’ life, his schedule had gone like this; 

Every morning he woke before the Sun with Kimiko and Tomoko. They’d make their way down to the kitchens with the other women for a quick breakfast of tea and fruit, and then head up to the fourth and fifth floors for their first hosting shift of the day. 

Jack remembered his first day hosting, it had been nerve-wracking. He’d been given a simple black uniform robe embroidered with blue serpents, a small blue apron to tie around his waist, and a little silver name tag to pin over his heart. Kimiko had readied the trays of teas, teapots, and various pastries that’d been ordered by the customers, setting them down onto a simple silver serving cart that was spelled with magic to keep the tea warm. She threw Jack a comforting smile, and then they were off, pushing out from behind the small curtain that hid the servants’ corner. 

To say that Jacks' looks drew _some_ people's attention, would be an understatement. It seemed that this universe didn’t have a lot of Albino people, as customers paused when they rolled by, eyeing him up and down curiously. Jack felt like an annoyingly florescent white light bulb in a room full of moths. His face flooded with heat every time he visited a table and shakily refilled teacups under the watchful, silent gazes of the customers. As he would move on to another table, he’d hear hushed whispers break out from the one he’d left. People here were too polite to ask him anything, Kimiko had explained later, it would be considered rude to address him about it so openly, so people contented themselves to wondering and speculating about him. 

Jack privately thought that was stupid, they could just ask him. But, whatever. He felt like people just enjoyed having something new and strange to gossip about. A myriad of emotions and opinions were presented to Jack every day, ranging from disgust and fear all the way to curiosity. 

After a week or so he got used to it, it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to people finding him unattractive and strange-looking anyway. The interest in him faded away till he became just another host buzzing around the Teahouse. 

The faded interest in him was –unfortunately- short lived. Crowds of people soon began curiously coming to the Sapphire Serpent to catch a glimpse of him after a random upper-class merchant made a comment speculating that maybe Jack was some sort of red eyed spirit or demon. The rumors spread wildly and mutated from there, people came up with stories about him, proclaiming him to be a fiery demon forced into servitude by Lady Liao. People called him ridiculous things like the _Porcelain_ _Demon_ or the _Tea_ _houses’_ _Devil._ The stories continued to grow in wildness after Lady Liao attempted to help him by restricting his working space to give him more privacy and shield him from the curious public. 

Only two good things came out of this. One, was that Jack was introduced to the boiler rooms. Two, was that the decreased sightings of Jack led to people becoming even more interested in spotting him. It seemed he was the Sapphire Serpents’ lucky charm, when it came to increasing revenue. 

The day Lady Liao took Jack down to the boiler rooms to work and avoid the crowds was one Jack would never forget. 

It was dark and smoky down there, lit dimly by warm lanterns and the fires of the furnaces. Being surrounded by metal and darkness made him feel truly at home for the first time since being whisked away from his old universe. The seven floors of the Sapphire Serpent were beautiful and comforting, but he found he’d missed the sound of metal clanging and the feeling of iron bending to his will. Building robots and machines was his talent, his hands had ached to get back to work. It was like being in his old workshop again (except all his brilliant inventions and Jack-bots were sadly absent). 

An old man by the name of Tian worked down in the boiler rooms alone. He was often in his Shifted form that was an old bull, which helped him to cart large loads of coal to the furnace. He had dark skin and small brown eyes that glimmered thoughtfully whenever he and Jack discussed mechanics. Jack and Tian got along like a house on fire, especially after Jack began building improved carts and furnaces that allowed Tian to get a break every once in a while and improved the efficiency of the Teahouse. 

Now, every day for the past almost four weeks, after Jack finished his morning shift on the fourth and fifth floors and ate a quick lunch, he would give a quick goodbye to Kimiko, Tomoko, and the other women, before giddily descending into the boiler room to work for the rest of the afternoon. 

At around six every evening Jack would be ushered out by Tian, his white hair rumpled and pale skin smudged in soot and grease, and sent to wash up. Then, he would do a quick evening shift as a host with Tomoko on the second floor before dinner. 

Each night before he fell asleep, Jack would sit on his little mat, pondering over his goals of world domination. 

He trusted Yawen, maybe foolishly, but her presence in the back of his mind soothed him and assured him that he was on the right path. The Sapphire Serpent was the perfect place for anyone to make connections and move up in the world, as people of all backgrounds swarmed to the popular Teahouse. Not to mention it was literally across the river from the Imperial Palace, where all the Shen Gong Wu in this universe were kept, hoarded by the Royal family. It was all so close to him, only a hairsbreadth away... 

**-o)0(o-**

It seemed that today would be a break in Jacks’ schedule. One that he’d been _dreading._

_“_ Jack! Tomoko! Come with me please.” Lady Liao called out across the busy kitchen full of kitchen hands and hostesses. 

Jack and the Tohomiko sisters paused while eating their breakfast. The sisters exchanged knowing glances while Tomoko and Jack stood up. Sometimes Lady Liao called on the hosts to do errands for her, but never this early in the morning. _‘Why do I have such a bad feeling about this...”_ He wondered to himself as they followed Lady Liao up to the sixth floor. The Lady hadn't called on him to do an errand for her yet, and the full moon was still a day away, so Jack had no clue what she wanted.

Lady Liao was basically bouncing in place as she led them into her office. 

“The Royal Princes, along with the Princess, will be dining on the seventh floor this morning!” She blurted out before Jack and Tomoko even had a chance to sit down fully. Tomoko only raised an eyebrow, bemused by the Lady’s excitement. Jack was glad to be sitting down, or else he would’ve fallen over in shock. 

“I want you both to be their hosts, make sure you’re on your best behavior! We want to be absolutely sure that they are well taken care of, if they desire something, strive to be swift and polite in supplying it!” Lady Liao rushed out, pacing around her room gathering up different items. 

“Tomoko, I want you to perform a _Gongfu_ tea ceremony for them before serving them. Jack, you will watch Tomoko and try to learn from her demonstration, one day you may be required to perform an official ceremony as well.” Lady Liao commanded, 

“Yes, Lady Liao.” They both answered obediently. 

“Good. Now here are some clean robes and new aprons, go put them on and fix your hair. They’ll be here any moment! I want you to look your best, and remember, your actions reflect on the competency and service of the Teahouse!” She called out as she ushered them into a side room to change and clean themselves up. 

Jack was shaking as he dressed and nervously combed his hair, he didn’t know why he was so _nervous._ It was just Chase Young. Jack had been in Chases’ presence dozens of times before without being so scared, and this wasn’t even the Chase Young he’d known! For all he knew this Chase could be ugly, or infirm, or some horrible product of incest, like most royalty was. 

Noticing that something was wrong, Tomoko placed a reassuring hand on Jack’s arm, 

“Are you okay Jack? If you need it, I can ask Lady Liao if she could let you do something else...” She asked him gently. 

“No. I’m fine Tomoko, just nervous. Thanks though.” Jack replied quickly, forcing a smile onto his face. She stared at him dubiously but said nothing more as they left the room and followed Lady Liao up to the seventh floor. 

Looking around curiously to distract himself as he carried a tray, Jack noticed that the higher they went up the stairs the more luxurious and gold-gilded things got. The seventh floor of the Sapphire Serpent was off limits to everyone besides the Royals, Lady Liao, and their hosts. Jack had never seen it before, and he noticed that while the lower floors were obviously expensively furnished and lovely to look at, the seventh floor was something else entirely. 

Stepping into the seventh tearoom was like stepping onto a cloud. 

There were no windows whatsoever. Instead there were four white marble columns that held up the roof, and where the walls should be there was nothing but open sky and long light blue curtains that fluttered in the breeze. 

Light from the dawn streamed directly into the room, painting everything a rosy morning pink. With no walls or windows, someone could walk right up to the edge of the room and jump out. ‘ _Or be thrown out.'_

Jack shivered fearfully. 

Actual clouds floated across the room occasionally, since the Teahouse was tall enough to reach them. Across almost every inch of the gleaming marble floor there were low cushions and fluffy rugs. Xiangqi boards and vases bursting with flowers decorated small tables around the room, and at the very center was a large gold-tipped table made of a huge, flat slab of sodalite. Jack glanced curiously up at the ceiling for a moment, so he wouldn’t have to focus on the three figures seated at the table just yet. 

Every inch of the ceiling was coated with acrylic blue dragons and sprawling owls. The large mural was painstakingly detailed, even the tiniest scale or thinnest feather was beautifully rendered in sweeping strokes of paint. 

Faint chatting reached Jacks’ ears as he, Tomoko, and Lady Liao approached the table. He finally looked at the people seated. 

There was an older and very muscular bald man wearing high collared orange robes sitting at the head of the table. Jack assumed this was Prince Guan, and beside him was Shadow Young. He recognized her immediately despite her slightly different appearance. She was seated regally besides Prince Guan, with her blue-black hair piled high up on her head in an elaborate bun that accentuated her long neck and sleek eyes. 

She wore a silky blue and purple outfit that was intricately embroidered with panthers, and held some strange looking musical instrument in her lap, smiling indulgently with painted lips at... Omi? 

A very young-looking Omi, maybe about five years old, sat at the table with them instead of Chase Young. He was loudly cheering on Shadow as she strummed the instrument. 

“Greetings!” Lady Liao called out cheerfully, bowing respectfully to the Royals, with Jack and Tomoko behind her mimicking her bow. 

“Hello Lady Liao!” The young Omi called out from his seat at the table, waving his little hands around obnoxiously. ‘ _Great._ _’_ Jack thought morosely while looking at the tiny Omi. He felt a little less anxious now at seeing that Chase wasn’t there, but also suddenly very suspicious of his absence. 

“Hello, Prince Omi, you have grown so much from the last time we met!” The Lady commented fondly. 

Lady Liao and the Royals made their introductions. Tomoko retreated and then returned quickly, pushing a fancy serving cart out that held a brewing tray, cups, a hot porcelain teapot of boiled water, and several bowls of dried green leaves that smelled like Oolong. Jack was only carrying a heavy tray, loaded with honeyed biscuits, sweet cookies, and generously buttered bread. 

“Lady Liao, would you join us today?” Prince Guan asked politely. ‘ _Oh God. She’s never going to stop retelling this story. It’ll be as bad_ _as the Emperor Dashi one she tells us at least once a week.’_ Jack thought tiredly to himself. He and Tomoko shared a discreetly exasperated look with one another. 

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly intrude!” 

“I insist, it would be a pleasure.” Prince Guan insisted. 

“I couldn’t, it would be improper for me to sit with Royalty...” She refused again, glancing down shyly. Was she...? Flirting? With the oldest prince? 

_'_ _Ew.'_ This was worse than the time he’d witnessed his Grandma flirting with the postman. 

“Please sit, Lady Liao, it would be an honor to have you drink tea with us, after you have so graciously allowed us into your Teahouse.” Prince Guan insisted _again_ , gesturing to a chair at the table. Jack was going to hurl. 

She accepted this time, and Jack politely used his free hand to pull out her seat for her. With everyone seated, Lady Liao signaled for Tomoko to begin the ceremony. 

Tomoko looked surprisingly calm as she slowly prepared the tea. Her hands moving gracefully through the air, daintily picking up and setting down cups. It was like watching a slow dance. Fragrant steam rose from the cups as she poured from the porcelain teapot, heating everything up. She passed around the bowl of Oolong for the Royals to appreciate the high quality and smell of the tea. 

Jack wasn’t paying complete attention to the specific process, as he was serving out the food on his tray for the Royals. But he noticed the graceful way Tomoko measured out the Oolong leaves and held the boiling hot kettle high up by her shoulder as she poured into the porcelain pot, letting the water fall dramatically until it overflowed a little. 

As the ceremony slowed down and ended quietly with Tomoko serving out the now brewed tea, a shrill shout from Omi broke the calmness of the room. 

“Father! Look! It’s _Shūshu_ _(Uncle)_!” He called, tugging on Guans’ sleeve and pointing frantically towards one of the windows. Jack felt his blood turn to ice as he and everyone else in the room turned. 

A huge, green and gold Chinese _D_ _ragon_ flew towards them, twisting and dancing elegantly in the air. 

Streaming like liquid jade, the Dragon rushed up to the building. Its face was drawn into a beautiful snarl, displaying its glinting gold teeth. 

The Dragon began Shifting midflight, curling in on itself as it touched down. Shrinking and melting until a man stood at the edge of the room, framed by the blowing curtains and morning light. 

“ _Oh”_ Jack breathed, nearly inaudible. 

This Chase Young, was definitely _not_ ugly. 

“Have I arrived too late for tea, Nephew?” Chase drawled teasingly.

He confidently strode further into the room, a handsome smirk pulling at his lips. This Chase- No, _just_ Chase, this was Jack’s world now too- was slightly older, maybe around twenty-three. He was all broad shoulders and bronzed skin wrapped in a high collared green robe. Every step he took towards them had power behind it, like a jungle cat closing in on its’ prey. 

“No, Brother, you are not _too_ late for tea.” Shadow answered for Omi, smiling playfully. 

More introductions and apologies were made after Chase’s arrival, and the noise level in the room raised as the Royals and Lady Liao chatted. Jack and Tomoko worked in a flurry, setting out plates and silverware for their unexpected guest. 

“I thought you would be away for an important war council meeting today, Chase, did it end early?” Prince Guan asked distractedly, buttering a roll for Omi and passing it to him. 

“Yes, Guan. Fortunately, it did indeed end early, or else I wouldn’t be here to give _this_ to my favorite Nephew.” Chase replied slyly, pulling out a small bundle from a pouch at his side. 

The whole room was momentarily distracted by watching Omi open his present, which was a small puzzle cube with detailed colorful animals painted onto each of its four sides. While Lady Liao and the others were cooing over it, Tomoko caught Jack’s attention from the other side of the room quietly, signaling discreetly for him to refill everyone's cups. Jack did _not_ want to do that. No way. No. 

Jack picked up the porcelain teapot and made his way around the table, refilling teacups. He purposefully avoided serving Chase, serving everyone else besides him first, manners be damned. 

After he refilled Shadow's teacup, he slowly made his way to Chase’s end of the table. He kept his eyes down and avoided even lifting his head. Hands trembling as he poured the tea. Jack was focusing so hard on not looking at Chase that he jumped in shock -spilling a small amount of tea onto the table- when he saw Chase's large hand enter his field of vision. Chase tapped three of his fingers on the table, the gesture startling Jack. 

Chase was _thanking_ him. 

For the tea, of course. But Jack had _never_ been thanked by the Other Chase, not once. 

Jack set down the teapot and grabbed a cloth from his apron, still not looking up at him, quickly moving to wipe up the spilled tea. He made to move his hand away once it was clean but was stopped when Chase’s hand struck out, capturing his thin wrist. 

Jack froze. 

Chase tugged Jack’s smaller hand towards him, guiding it so that he could hold it up to his porcelain teacup. Comparing the two shades of white, they matched almost perfectly. Chase brushed his gloved thumb curiously over the raised pink flower-shaped scars on Jack’s palm. 

“ _Beautiful.”_ Chase murmured; the word spoken quieter than a whisper. 

Jack let out a gasp, red eyes looking up in shock, accidently making eye contact with the Prince. His eyes were so _gold_. His knees trembled a little at the expression of pure interest on Chases’ face. Blood rushed to his head, coloring his near-translucent cheeks and ears a vivid red. He grew even redder at the reaction Chase had to his blush; who’s attention had intensified impossibly, hungrily watching the color bloom across Jacks’ face. 

He released Jacks’ wrist and shifted back. The tension that’d built up between them released, and Chase's lips quirked into another smirk. 

“Almost like... a ‘ _Porcelain Demon'_ _?_ ” He teased , using that god-awful nickname. ‘ _How did he even hear that rumor-’_

Jack fled. Rushing back to the cart with the teapot clasped in front of his chest like it would protect him. No one else in the room had noticed the little interaction between them, too caught up in their own conversations. 

He spent the rest of the affair in a daze, avoiding Chases’ intense stare. The feeling of his eyes upon him lingered long after the Royals had left the Teahouse. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter will definitely have more Chase and Jack interactions!! Just thought I'd tease him in this chapter ;))) As well as Yawen, since next chapter will partly be about Jacks first full moon training session with her.  
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_tea_culture#Finger_tapping ,this is what Chase does at the end of the Chapter ;)


	3. Harvest Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLS&TY - Run Wild, is what I listened to for this chapter!  
> I hope y'all enjoy it!

Jack woke slowly, eyes slipping open just as sunlight began to spill through the curtains. 

Today was the day of the full moon, as well as his first day off from work at the Teahouse. He stretched languidly on his hard mat; over the course of the last month he’d gotten used to the stiffness of basically sleeping on the floor. All that was visible of Jack from outside of his blanket was a rumpled mess of white hair and pale legs flung haphazardly across his mat; too long for the soft blanket he’d been given. A sigh escaped him. Jack hadn’t slept-in since well before his deal with Yawen, and he was determined to enjoy every moment of it. 

“Jack! Wake up! We’re going to the market today, hurry up and get dressed!” Kimiko shouted abruptly into his ear; her hot hands began poking him in the side obnoxiously. 

In response, the nineteen-year-old melted further into his mat, groaning unhappily. This only spurred Kimiko on, and she began excitably poking and pulling at him. Getting no reaction from him even then, she decided to yank his blanket off. 

“Fine! I’m up!” Jack shrieked, he sat up and groggily tried to pry the blanket out of her hands. 

“Nope, you’re not getting this back! Get dressed, we’re leaving in ten minutes!” She ordered, running off with his blanket. 

Jack groaned, peeling himself off his mat and scooching over to the woven chest besides him. It was unfortunate that Kimiko and Tomoko also had the next three days off with him. They were probably going to wake him up early every day too. 

Opening his chest, he pulled out a burgundy robe that’d been gifted to him yesterday by Lady Liao, and a medium sized pouch filled with coins that she’d also dropped into his lap yesterday, declaring it his paycheck for the month. The robe was slimly cut and not too long, delicate white rabbits with red beaded eyes were embroidered into the chest and waist. 

He slipped on his clothes quickly, running a hand through his hair to tame it. Then rushed down the stairs as quick as he could to the first floor. Jack was excited for this though, and was also kind of glad Kimiko had woken him up. He hadn’t yet left the tiny river island that the Sapphire Serpent was perched on, and he was dying to explore the city. Entering the kitchens, he was greeted to the sight of Kimiko and Tomoko holding his breakfast with matching expressions of anxious excitement. 

Both sisters wore similar outfits that looked like _cheongsam_ but longer and with airy sleeves. Tomoko’s was a cool teal color embroidered with orange tigers, and her hair had been wound up into an intricate bun decorated with golden bird-shaped clips. While Kimiko's dress was an excitable orange and she had red rouge dabbed onto her lips and eyelids. 

He felt a little self-conscious about barely fixing himself up, but quickly forgot about that once Kimiko shoved a blueberry bread roll into his mouth. 

They made their way together towards one of the bridges that stretched across the river and into the town, Jack munching happily while they walked. 

Verdant plants of every type glimmered in the cool morning light, bursting vibrantly from every surface he could see. As they crossed the bridge there were thick ivy vines coating the rails that trailed down to the water. He peered over the rail, and his red eyes widened in awe as goldfish -bigger than two of him put together- swam lazily under the bridge. While Jack wasn’t really an outdoors-y person -ultimately preferring the darkness and metal found in places like the boiler room- he could still appreciate the lushness of this new world he’d found himself in. It soothed something inside him that he hadn’t even noticed before, something raw and burnt and withered from neglect. 

They didn’t have to walk long to get to the marketplace, Jack stared around curiously. Even this early in the morning, it was _packed_. People bustled under a huge columned building with a sloping red roof, weaving around stalls and carts full of food and various everyday items like rugs and vases. Merchants called out loudly all over the place, drawing people in with promises of new and exotic items from other parts of Hébìng. 

Jack nervously rubbed the pouch of money inside a pocket of his robe. He had no clue what to buy. He didn’t really need food or furniture or anything like that, since all that stuff was provided for him by the Teahouse. Following the sisters, who were chatting with each other excitably over whatever they’d spotted, he weaved through the crowd, gaining curious and intrigued looks from the people who noticed his strange coloring. They came upon a small stall selling colorful kites and fans that the girls claimed they’d never seen before, and immediately began fawning over the intricate kites. 

‘ _Oh_ _g_ _reat_ _._ _’_ Jack complained loudly in his head. There were two men running the stall that Jack recognized immediately. 

“You girls need help with anything?” _Raimundo_ asked politely, this version of him looking a bit older and ruffled, like he spent a lot of time travelling. Kimiko blushed a bright crimson, having not noticed his approach. She blushed even harder when she noticed Raimundo's scruffy yet –apparently to her- attractive appearance. Tomoko and Jack shared a fondly exasperated look from behind her as she struck up a conversation with the man. 

“It’s nice to meet you too, Kimiko. I’m Raimundo” Raimundo introduced, leaning against a barrel of kites in an attempt at flirting, “That guy over there is my business partner, Clay. If you girls want, we could...” Jack quickly was distracted from the conversation, his gaze drifting to the stall next to him. 

He wandered closer to it, spotting small boxes and jars littering the stall. An old woman with a thickly painted face of makeup watched him shrewdly as he drifted closer. There were wooden boxes of all shapes and sizes, colorfully decorated and filled to the brim with jars and bowls of pigments and powders. ‘ _Makeup Boxes’_ Jack realized suddenly, now hungrily eyeing some small pointed brushes and a jar of black almond-scented paste. 

“AAH!” Jack shrieked suddenly, as the creepy old woman appeared quietly behind him. She was holding up a small red box, only slightly bigger than her cupped palms. 

“This one suits you.” She offered seriously, pressing the box into his hands. Jack inspected the box, it was painted with tiny white flowers, and inside it held a little clay jar of black eye cream, a small pointed brush, an oval mirror, and a circular container of vibrant red rouge. He instantly decided he needed it. 

Jack thanked her giddily, and payed the price that she asked for it. It wasn’t so expensive, he used less than half of the coins in his pouch. As he left, the woman gave him a wrinkled smile, her heavily lined eyes shining fondly. 

“Jack! Over here!” He turned towards the voice, Tomoko waved to him from where she was standing calmly by the kite stand and he made his way over to her. 

“Kimiko done flirting with the kite guy yet?” Jack asked snarkily while sidling up to Tomoko so that he could see what the other bought. Tomoko had purchased a small green hand fan, with a sprawling design of a tiger and panther basking on a hill. 

“ _Hey_!” Kimiko called out defensively as she approached them, overhearing what he’d said. Her face was red from blushing and embarrassment, “You’re just jealous,” She teased, sticking her tongue out at them playfully. She looked at what they bought and- 

“-Jack! Is that a makeup box?” Kimiko continued in surprise, leaning forward into his space to get a better look. 

“Uhm yeah, I used to line my eyes before I came to the Sapphire Serpent... I haven’t been able to get my hands on anything like this till now...” Jack trailed off uncertainly, Kimiko squealed. 

“Can I put some on you Jack? Please? Ooh I know! We can head over to the garden nearby and I can do it there?” Kimiko begged. 

They ended up walking to the garden, Jack giving in to Kimiko’s request. 

It was as beautiful at the garden as it was all over the rest of the city. Flowers bloomed in every direction, and large sprawling trees hung overhead, casting their cool shade onto the visitors. In the center of the flowery field was a large fountain with a statue of –Jack noted with muted surprise- Yawen, her large obsidian wings spread out in flight. Like every other statue of her Jack had seen, it was draped with flowers and offerings. Jack felt the bond in his mind thrum contently, he wondered what she was up to. He would get to ask her tonight, when she began their first training session together. He was eager to see her and get started, he wanted to become _powerful_. 

Settling down on the ledge of the fountain besides the water, Jack insisted he did his own eyeliner and Kimiko could do whatever else she wanted when he was done. She pouted for a while over it but decided to try out the kite she’d bought at Raimundo's stall while she waited for him to finish. Tomoko was lounging on the grass like a drowsy tigress, lazily fanning herself in the late morning heat while watching Kimiko fly her new dragon-shaped kite. 

It was a _l_ _ot_ harder doing eyeliner with a paint brush. Jack cursed to himself in frustration, hunched over the tiny oval mirror from his box. 

After maybe ten minutes or so of grumbling and rubbing his face, he finally finished. He felt a little more at ease, with his signature eyeliner on. Kimiko and Tomoko cooed at and complimented his work, especially the little part that came down under his left eye. Kimiko picked up the box and sat beside him, bringing out the rouge and getting to work. 

Jack’s attention drifted off as she worked, gaze sliding up to watch the kite that Tomoko was now lazily flying. 

Gliding smoothly in the wind, the paper dragon was painted green and gold, eerily reminiscent of another dragon Jack knew. 

Jack still wasn’t sure how to feel about his first meeting with Chase... His scarred hand tingled whenever he thought of the man, still feeling the lingering brush of Chases’ powerful hands. 

He couldn’t have really thought that Jack was “ _beautiful_ _”_. No way. No one thought that about him. Ever. 

‘ _Maybe he was just messing with me...’_ Jack pondered, this Chase did seem to be creepily playful. Either way, Jack was simultaneously relieved and disappointed he hadn’t seen the Prince again in the last few days. 

“Finished!” Kimiko cheered, breaking Jack out of his daze. She held up the mirror for Jack to see and he paused, he actually looked – _nice._

Light red painted flowers decorated the center of Jacks’ pale forehead, crimson was splashed across his lips and smudged into his colorless cheeks, making them seem rosy and warm. At the corners of his mouth where his dimples would be, were two small and carefully painted red dots. 

“How come you never do my makeup that well, Kimi?” Tomoko whined, leaning over her sister to stare enviously at Jacks face. 

“Because you always move around too much, Idiot.” She smacked her sister’s head away from Jack playfully. “Do you like it, Jack? You’re so quiet...” Kimiko questioned. He looked at her and smiled. 

“I love it Kimiko, Thank you.” Jack answered truthfully, Kimiko smiled fondly at him and threw her arms around his neck, mindful not to smudge his new makeup. 

They left the park not long after that, wandering around the city. The sisters pointed out to Jack all kinds of little shops and houses that they liked, sharing stories and memories about things that’d happened. At noon, when the sun began to rise higher into the sky, it rays threatening to burn Jack’s skin and frizz up Tomoko’s hair, they turned back and made their way towards the Teashop. As they approached the building, Jack was able to appreciate how the Teahouse looked from the ground. It was like an ivory tower, its walls and sloped tiled terraces reached elegantly towards the clouds. 

Kimiko let out a loud yawn as they entered the building, and declared she was going to take a nap, so she’d be ready for their long night of celebrating the full moon. Tomoko and Jack decided to split ways as well, Tomoko going to the fourth floor to read. Jack had no clue what he was going to do, if he was honest. He was a little bummed that he would miss the full moon celebrations, Kimiko had explained how the whole city would spend the night partying and running free in their animal forms. The full moon was a moment in which the natural magic and the collective magic of the Wu were at their highest level of strength, meaning anyone all over the city could Shift, regardless of their own magical strength. Jack wondered if he should ask Yawen if he’d be able to Shift... He started towards the stairs to look for something to do before a voice stopped him. 

“Jack! Just the person I was looking for!” Lady Liao called behind him, he grimaced and turned around to face her. 

“Could you- Oh! You look so charming, dear! Did Kimiko do this?” She gestured towards his face and he nodded yes. 

“Well it looks wonderful. _Y_ _ou_ look wonderful, Jack.” Lady Liao clasped her hands together suddenly, like some emotion had overwhelmed her “My teahouse is so blessed to have you here. I thank Yawen every day that she has blessed me with your presence so many weeks ago. What a great honor; a precious gift! A charm for good fortune! Oh, and so good at hosting and so well mannered-” 

“Lady Liao...” Jack mumbled, cutting off her embarrassing rant. His head was basically a tomato at this point, ripe and ready to be picked from the stem of his neck at any moment. He hunched up, embarrassed at the praise and the stares her rant had drawn to them. She tutted softly at him, her brown eyes shining with a maternal warmth, infinitely more comforting than his actual mother had ever been. She reached up and very gently pinched his cheek, mindful of the makeup, and gave him a fond little shake. 

“All right, all right dear, I’ll let you go! But do this one little favor for me; take this down to the boiler rooms for Tian? He forgot to come up for lunch today, as he so often does. Oh! And be ready in my office tonight at sunset, Yawen will be here for you.” Lady Liao requested, picking up a silver platter heaped with food and tea. 

Jack accepted the tray and quickly rushed from the building, heading to the small garden on the island, looking for the outside door that lead down to where the boiler rooms were located. The trapdoor to the boiler rooms was discreetly hidden underneath a rosebush behind a small fountain bearing a statue of Yawen. Jack slipped inside with practiced ease, and clambered down the dark steps into the dim heat. He said hello to Tian and served him his food, then quickly got sidetracked by the schematics that were laid out on Tians’ tiny office table... 

**-o)0(o-**

Scrolls were unfurled on the large oak table, some bearing descriptive maps of Hébìng, and others with reports from various Generals and Commanders. 

Chase Young scowled down at the scrolls, not even really looking at them. 

He was frustrated. No. He was _furious_. Yet again he had returned a month ago from leading a _long_ and tiresome war campaign throughout the Borderlands, conquering territory for Hébìng and razing the Borderlands’ opposing armies. And yet again, his brother had simply shown up for a day, volunteering with the men and fighting for show. And _yet again_ _,_ his father had lavished praise upon Guan, leaving nothing but disdain and vague suspicion for Chase. 

Chase, who has dedicated his _l_ _ife_ to the expansion and betterment of Hébìng. His every waking moment given to the army, leading dangerous battles and gaining scar upon scar, all for their people, for their _power_. Guan did not deserve the praise he was so generously draped in by their father. By the _Emperor_. Guan would be Emperor one day. He did not deserve it, in Chase’s opinion. He should have challenged his brother for the throne long ago. Guan was lazy, depending on his physical strength and popularity to hide his lack of interest in the politics of the country. 

Be that as it may, he could not challenge his brother. He could not lose the trust of young Omi in that way. If he did, he would be no better than his traitorous uncle, _Hannibal_. Challenging Guan would be foolish anyway, he had always managed to outmatch Chase in their spars. 

The anger that’d risen inside him diminished as the thought of young Omi appeared in his mind. He sighed wearily, sitting down heavily on his gold-tipped oak chair. He loved his Nephew, and saw great potential in him, even at his young age. 

His sigh echoed throughout his expansive chambers. A lonely sound that sunk into the emptiness of his rooms. Suddenly, he felt so _old._ Despite only being twenty-three, he felt as though he’d lived a hundred lifetimes, his skin worn thin from battle and time. 

Glancing tiredly around the room, Chase felt the cold openness of his surroundings closing in on him. No warmth was to be found for him inside the Imperial Palace, it was as though the sun had taken it’s leave and left him bereft in the dark jade halls of his home. 

Unbidden, an image of fragile, pale hands clasped around a teapot came to him. Warmth spread through him at the memory of the strange host’s wide crimson eyes and snowy features. Striking in their similarity to the sight of fresh blood spilled on snow (a sight Chase was _very_ acquainted with). In all his years of travelling in and outside of Hébìng, Chase had never come across an individual so lovely and curious to behold. The host had warm hands too; he’d felt their heat even through his gloves. He’ d looked so _nervous_. Chase could only wonder why. He did unnerve some people, but never to that degree. 

So many questions for one small person, Chase itched to know the answers. 

He picked up a bowl of soup that was set besides his scrolls, and began stewing in his thoughts as he sipped his soup. Perhaps... 

“Chase?” came a tentative voice at his right. 

He turned and saw Shadow standing in his doorway, besides her was one of Chase’s pet tigers. 

“Yes, dear Sister?” Chase replied in-between sips, he absent-mindedly petted the tiger ‘ _Mei_ _’_ when she came up and curled around his feet. 

“I came to see if you were sulking in your room, it seems my suspicions were correct.” Shadow teased; Chase only scoffed in response. “I was wondering as well, if you would join me for afternoon tea? At the Sapphire Serpent?” She asked, her face impassive. 

Chase raised one thick brow, bearing his golden eyes into her. 

“The Sapphire Serpent? Why Sister, do you truly wish to drink the tea there again? Or is it the sight of a certain _hostess_ you wish to enjoy?” Chase inquired slyly. He had eyes after all, he’d noticed how his sister’s gaze had wandered. 

Shadow raised her own brow, unfazed. 

“You’re one to speak, Brother. Touching that strange host’s hand. Quite scandalous and out of character of you.” She remarked. 

“Perhaps you do not know my _Character_ as well as you think, dear Sister. I have spent a long time away from the Palace in the recent years, perhaps I am simply changed from the brother you once knew.” Chase challenged, suddenly serious. Shadow watched him thoughtfully with her green cat-like eyes. 

“Changed or unchanged. You are still my brother, Chase.” Shadow vowed solemnly. Then, a mischievous grin spread on her face, breaking the serious mood. 

“If you have changed so much that you’ve become a man who wishes to hold the hands of _Teahouse Devils_ _,_ then I shall endeavor to be a good sister and provide you with opportunities to see said _Devil_ again.” She teased. Chase simply rolled his eyes at her antics. 

“ _Fine._ Meet me at the back gate in ten minutes.” Chase ordered, and she scurried off to get herself ready for their outing, Mei padding along after her. 

Two hours later, Chase Young had been seated and given tea on every floor of the Sapphire Serpent and had yet to spot his mysterious host. 

Shadow had run off a while ago, spotting her hostess reading on the fourth floor and promptly abandoning Chase. He had been avoiding asking the owner, Lady Liao, as to where the young host was, out of pride and embarrassment. But after so long and so many cups of tea, Chase found himself desperate for even a glimpse of the young beauty. 

“Lady Liao, may I have a word?” Chase asked, the small woman looked ready to faint. What was with people these days? ‘ _You_ _gain a certain... reputation when you_ _kill a few hundred people in battle_ _,_ _and_ _then everyone gets nervous when you’re around_ _._ _Hmph.'_

“Yes! My Pri- Uhm I mean, Lord? Youn- Chase?” The woman stuttered. Chase was in disguise, dressed like a nobleman of slightly low social status. He’d requested that Lady Liao keep his presence a secret, not wanting to be noticed dining on every floor of the building. 

“ _Chase_ is fine, Lady Liao. I wish to inquire as to the whereabouts of one of the hosts who was present during my last visit.” 

The Lady looked at him shrewdly for a moment, before she seemed to find whatever she was looking for in his expression. 

“I cannot take you to him, Lord Chase, but I can take you to where he will be.” The Lady answered cryptically. It was quite bold of the little woman to partly deny her Prince something he’d asked for. Chase only raised an eyebrow at her, bemused, and gestured for her to lead the way. 

She left him in the garden attached to the Teahouse, telling him to wait and then rushing off nervously. 

It was a quaint little garden, Chase observed. In comparison to the Palaces’ gardens it was certainly lacking. But, Chase mused, it was still enjoyable to look at. Very much lush and bursting with plant life, and in the center of the garden lied a small fountain bearing a statue of the Great Spirit. He’d never been one to pander to the Spirit, he did not need the luck and good fortune she provided. But maybe... 

Chase idly tossed a coin into the fountain, an offering to the Spirit. Perhaps -he thought amusedly- she would grant him his wish and bring him the boy he sought. 

Red and orange tinted sunlight stretched across the garden, the sun was close to setting. The moon edged onto the horizon, perhaps Chase would go flying tonight and enjoy the strength of the full moon... 

Whining of wood and metal sharply brought Chase to complete attention. He instinctively moved into an attack stance, turning to the direction where he’d heard the loud ‘ _SCREEK’_ noise. From behind a rose bush a small trap door in the grass swung open. Chase watched in growing interest as a pale figure emerged, pushing past the rosebush and stumbling clumsily to the fountain. 

Illuminated in the light of the setting sun stood his illusive host, glowing pale and beautiful. Chase’s breath caught in his throat as the boy looked up, red eyes meeting gold. 

“ _AAH”_ The boy shrieked in surprise, beginning to topple over. Chase winced; the boy, unfortunately, did not have a very pleasant voice. Chase rushed to him, striking out quickly and grabbing him by the waist before he could hit the ground. His large hands eclipsed the host’s narrow hips. He distractedly noticed the embroidered red-eyed rabbits along the host’s red tunic, curiously similar to how the boy himself looked. He was drawn back to the boy’s shocked face. 

“You should be more careful about where you place your feet.” Chase commented idly, content to remain where he was; holding up the boy and drinking in the sight of him. 

Crimson lips drew his eyes, before his gaze roamed to take in painted dimples, delicate red flowers, and... charcoal smears? ‘ _Hmm.’_ Thick black lines of paint also decorated his red eyes, and Chase was entranced. 

The boy looked like a painting of a battle Chase had in his room; a picture of stark white snow and inky black trees, dripping with blood and dying soldiers. 

“ _Chase_ _Young_.” The boy whimpered, still staring shocked into Chase’s face. Chase was a little unnerved at the amount of fear and awe in the boy's expression. Maybe he hit his head coming out of that trap door? 

“Yes, that is my name. You know mine, but I find myself at a loss, as I do not yet know yours?” Chase inquired while pulling the boy to his feet and stepping away. 

Blinking the shocked daze out of his eyes, the boy was able to regain his composure after Chase had moved away. The Prince watched intently as the boy brushed his pale hair out of his face, a hot blush rushing over his cheeks. 

“... Jack Spicer.” He replied nervously, eyes darting back between the ground and Chase’s face. 

“ _Jack..._ What was that place you just emerged from?” Chase purred, immensely pleased. 

Jack looked like a rabbit facing the business end of a bow, 

“The boiler rooms.” He mumbled, nervously rubbing a scarred hand on his long neck. Chase’s eyes latched onto the sight. 

“Hmm. Such a strange place to be, for a captivating creature such as yourself.” Chase mused, beginning to circle idly around Jack, like a tiger with its prey. Something about this boy was... _different._ Not his appearance, _Him._ He was a pearl in a desert; an abnormality with no obvious explanation. 

Unable to resist, Chase reached out one hand and cupped Jack’s milk-toned cheek, brushing the smear of charcoal away with his thumb. A visible shudder shook through Jack. Chase watched, captivated, as the smaller man pressed his face subtly into Chase’s palm. He looked overwhelmed, like he’d never been touched so softly before. A smirk curled across Chase’s lips; he opened his mouth to say something and- 

Jack tore himself away from the prince's grasp, eyes wide and wild and focused on something behind Chase. Looking back at Chase, Jack seemed to think something over quickly. 

A small hand quickly and decisively reached forward and brushed Chase’s hand in return. The rough texture of Jack’s curious flower-shaped burns against his skin stilled him. 

“Thank you for catching me.” He said simply, and then darted off before Chase could react, disappearing into the foliage. Leaving behind only the smell of smoke and faint flapping of wings. 

**-o)0(o-**

“ _I leave you for a month and return to find you_ _cavorting_ _with Princes_ _. You certainly do move quickly, my young_ _apprentice_ _.”_ Yawen commented, amusement filtered in through the bond in Jack’s mind. 

Jack didn’t reply, too busy hiding his burning face in his hands and regretting his whole life. 

_‘What did I just_ do _? Oh fuck, it was worth it though. If that had been the Old Chase my hand would’ve been bitten off by a tiger by now._ _But he’s a prince in this Universe what if he has me, like,_ _executed_ _or something for touching him?_ _He’s the one that started_ _it_ _anyway, feeling up my face with his creepily nice hands...’_

Jack moaned out loud, letting out a gurgle of high-pitched shrill sounds as well. 

Yawen came closer, cocking her head at the sight of her apprentice hunched over in her clearing. She’d taken him back to the place where they’d made their deal; her oldest shrine. Her shrine was in a forest right on the edge of Quánlì, so they would be left undisturbed by the merry inhabitants of the Capital as they celebrated the full moon in their animal forms. 

“ _A_ _s_ _entertaining as it is witnessing your teenage breakdowns, we do have work to be doing.”_ She clucked, nudging his white hair with her beak. 

Shaking himself out of his fit of embarrassment, Jack remembered his earlier excitement for this night. He looked up at the loomingly intimidating owl spirit and pulled himself out of his fit of embarrassment. 

“What are we doing today, anyway?” Jack questioned, pulling himself up from the grass. 

“ _Today, we will begin working on magic, and you yourself, Jack”_ Yawen answered. Leading him further into the clearing, gesturing with a wing for him to sit. 

“ _Confidence is key to success, Jack. Sit up straight, place your palms in the grass. You already_ _possess_ _most of that which you need to_ _achieve your goals._ _Agility_ _, strength, and intelligence_ _is_ _all within you... Use it._ _The only thing that bl_ _o_ _cks you from your full potential, from what I have observed of your mind, is your fear._ ” Yawen lectured. Jack listened uncomfortably, tugging absent mindedly at the grass beneath his palms. 

“ _What do you fear, apprentice?”_ Yawen questioned, her beady black eyes bearing into him from above. 

“I fear...” Jack trailed off, before the words began to spill out of him as though coaxed out of his lips, the cork that’d held them in mysteriously vanished. 

“...Strength... of others, their ability to overcome my own. I fear my plans will amount to nothing and I doubt my own abilities. The truth... scares me; that I'm inferior and unlike them, that others will always be better.” Jack mumbled, cheeks heating at the private fears that spilled from his mouth. 

“ _You fear that you are truly a worm,_ _easily_ _trampled by the paws of tigers.”_ Yawen observed, 

“ _You cannot define_ _yourself_ _by what others_ _think of you_ _, or by the measure of strength that you have in comparison to them_ _._ _Make them see what you truly are and wish to be._ _From inside your mind I have observed your_ _nature_ _, and it is nothing like a worm;_ _you are a snake amidst the grass, coiled and lying in wait._ _Act as you are,_ _Jack,_ _trust_ _in your strengths. Even the mig_ _htiest lion fears the serpent’s bite, remember that my apprentice.”_ Yawen crooned to him. 

“ _But I know_ _self-confidence_ _is something easier to wish for than to_ _possess_ _, we will work on it._ _Now, for our lesson I want to work on something that will play into your strengths_ _."_ She settled down on the grass besides him, fluffing her black wings. She sat quietly for a moment, before she began to speak. 

“ _Close your eyes, drift_ _from yourself._ _.._ _Feel the air upon your face, cold and humid._ _The moonlight on your skin,_ _its_ _power grows._ _Every miniscule fleck of magic in the air is vibrating and writhing_ _in_ _excitement_ _. Let it into_ _yourself, Jack, let it mingle with the magic inside you_ _, pulling your magic forward and out into the air and earth that surrounds you...”_ Yawen murmured, the air in the clearing feeling electrified with every word she spoke. 

Jack was weirded out at first, not really interested in doing some strange meditation with a giant owl woman. But as she continued to speak, Jack found himself being lulled by her words. His breathing slowed down to match the cadence of her lilting voice. He could feel... something. Like his body was turning to gas, intangible and stretching. 

“ _Now, reach down. Down into the earth, your mind stretching through the layers of dirt_ _,_ _past the burrows of animals and insects._ _Dig your hands into the_ _ground,_ _searc_ _h_ _through the crust_ _,_ _deeper and deeper._ _Find the metal lying in wait, crumbled shards and chunks of aluminum and silver, copper and steel._ _Seize_ _them, Jack, force them upward_ _,_ _to_ _rush to the surface like sprouts.”_

He could feel them, glistening in his mind's eye, the familiar pang of metal resonating with every molecule of his body. 

“ _Every Evil Overlord needs his own minions,_ _”_ Yawen remarked, _“Imagine t_ _he pieces melting, bending and shaping to your will._ _Mold_ _them into the familiar forms of you_ _r_ _robots_ _, except filled with the power inside you, powering them to follow_ _your_ _commands._ _”_ Yawen instructed. 

Heat rushed through his chest and down his arms, burning like the furnace in the boiler room. It almost felt as if he’d swallowed hot coals, his chest and throat glowing from the inside out. A power uncoiled inside him as though released from being bound, he gripped it and bent it down, tying it to the metal beneath him and shaping the familiar forms of his Jack-bots piece by piece. 

Blood red eyes flew open in shock, a gasp rattling from his chest as he _pulled_ _,_ and beneath his hands placed on the ground two fully formed Jack-bots erupted . They tore through the earth, stretching up until they towered over Jack, much larger than his usual Jack-bots were built. Jack could feel them as though they were ghostly extra limbs. Their bodies were surrounded in a faintly red glow as they hovered above the ground, held aloft by Jack’s own _magic._

_“_ Whoa.” Jack gasped, looking at what he’d created in awe. 

_“_ _Excellent_ _!"_ Yawen cawed. Her pleasure seeping into his mind. “ _See what strength you_ _possess_ _, my_ _apprentice?_ _All you need is direction and intent, and tr_ _ust in your own_ _abilities_ _.”_

She drew herself up to her full height, towering over Jack, and spread her great wings. 

Steam hissed from her body, moving out to collect on the ground. The steam condensed to form wispy figures, like vaguely humanoid creatures. They crouched into offensive positions besides her. Jack felt that she was doing her creepy owl grin, despite the fact that her face was blank as usual. 

“ _Now, it’s time to practice.”_

**-o)0(o-**

Hours later, Jack and Yawen were still training. 

“Yeah! Jack Spicer wins again, beat that!” Jack cackled loudly from where he was perched on a Jack-bot. 

“ _I think you’ll find that I’ve won this match, Spicer.”_ Yawen teased, before her steam creatures surged forwards from where they’d been pinned on the ground, toppling Jack’s bots and seeping insides them, forcing them to fall apart. 

Jack booed theatrically as Yawen dismissed her creatures and declared an end to their training. 

_“_ _I have one final_ _exercise_ _for you today, and then you may ask me any questions you wish; I know that you have many.”_ Jack still found it a little creepy that she could read and enter his mind. 

Yawen instructed him to form a metal sword for himself, and Jack summoned a huge lump of copper. It shaped itself into what he wanted almost like liquid filling a mold, hardening into a long thin reddish-colored sword. Metal magic felt so natural to him. It unnerved him how easy it was for him to pick up magic. Maybe... he really was somewhat powerful already, like Yawen kept insisting? 

She flapped out one great wing, sending a huge cloud of steam onto the clearing. The steam condensed, forming various human-like figures, and then... _kept_ forming. They became detailed, growing noses and eyes, hair and clothes. Collecting until they became wisps of people that Jack could recognize; Wuya, the Monks, Kimiko, and – _Chase._

_“Kill them.”_ Yawen requested, not an order, otherwise he would have had to do so despite his own wishes. It was a test, she wanted him to choose. 

Jack was frozen in shock. The figures took it as their opening to begin hissing. 

“ _Weak”_ the figure of Wuya hissed, circling him closely, “ _Pathetic_ _. You never do anything right, Jack!”_ she drawled, her wispy face curled into a sneer. The monks shrieked their insults behind her, building an overwhelming cacophony of harsh words that rushed upon him. In the distance the figure of Chase didn’t even bother _l_ _ooking_ in his direction, ignoring him all together. 

Jack trembled. His grip on his sword loosened as the figures rushed around him. ‘ _They’re right, they’re ri_ _ght. It’s true!’_ Jack thought in despair, collapsing to his knees, gripping his ears to try and block them out as they grew louder, screaming into his face. 

He felt himself shake, growing weaker, his breaths came in terrified gasps. 

“ _Poor excuse for a_ _Heylin_ _You’ll never be one of us_ _!”_ Wuya screamed, clawing at his arms. 

Bright, burning words suddenly seared across his mind, Yawen’s words, 

“ _Make them see who you are, Jack.”_ She whispered. 

Fire suddenly rushed through Jack, a calm furiosity that licked inside his chest. He seized his sword from the ground and swung it up in one quick motion, slicing the phantom Wuya clean in half. 

“ _NO!”_ he shrieked, viciously slicing through the Monks as their hateful screams increased. 

He paused briefly at Kimiko, before realizing this phantom was of the other version of her, not _his_ Kimiko. This phantom wasn’t his Kimiko that poked him out of bed in the morning or laughed at his lame jokes. The old Kimiko would have never painted his face or hugged him the way this one did. 

He struck out, cleanly dispatching the last of the Monks. 

Jack panted, turning furiously towards the last steam phantom in the clearing. 

Chase Young turned slowly to face him. A sneer of displeasure stretched across his Idol’s face. 

“ _You_ _insolent,_ _pathetic_ _worm. I shouldn’t have even-”_

Other Chase’s head was cut from his neck before he’d even had a chance to finish talking. 

“No. You shouldn’t have.” Jack told the now empty clearing. 

He collapsed to the grass, suddenly drained. Yawen emerged from wherever she’d been hiding, clucking to him gently, her giant clawed foot carefully scooped him up and placed him into her healing hot spring. 

It took Jack about an hour after the exercise to bring himself out of his thoughtful daze. He didn’t want to talk about the exercise with Yawen, feeling strangely raw from it. He instead asked her why she had decided that they were only to train on the night of the full moon. 

She contemplated his question for a moment. 

“ _My power is... tethered to the Aulic Teapot. Only during the full moon can I emerge from it -unless_ _the Wu is activated by someone, then I may emerge for a full day before returning.”_ She was quiet for a moment, before deciding to elaborate. 

_“_ _Many years ago, b_ _efore I was confined to the teapot_ _that I’d create_ _d_ _, I had another apprentice. He betrayed our deal_ _._ _H_ _e wanted power, but more than what was promised_ _to_ _him_ _.._ _._ _I was once an extremely powerful spirit,_ _i_ _f I was not confined to my own creation_ _I still would be._ _People pray and give offerings to me every day, all over this world. Their worship and the deals I make_ _increase my power. For me, there is no good or evil, no_ _Heylin_ _o_ _r Xiaolin. There is only_ _business_ _and satisfaction. I am a_ _businesswoman_ _at the core of it, a very good one. Ever_ _y_ _deal I make must end wit_ _h the_ _satisfaction of the other, or else the deal will be_ _null,_ _and my power will not increase from it._ _”_

_“My former apprentice wanted more; he wanted the power that I possessed._ _He devised a plan, to trick me into entering my teapot one day. I... was fond of him, he w_ _as like my own son. My affection blinded me from the more cruel and devious parts of him. He used that to his own_ _advantage and_ _sealed me inside the teapot with a specially devised spell. This spell limited my powers, allowing him to drain them from me and absorb them.”_

_“He didn’t understand that my power cannot_ _truly_ _be used by a_ _mortal;_ _it weakens and deforms them. He could still use my power, but his body and soul_ _were forever poisoned. In his rage, he_ _cursed me and_ _threw my pot into an alternate universe, your unive_ _rse._ _I can leave the teapot and return here on the full moon, but I must l_ _eave_ _at the end of the night_ _. I am_ _forced to complete deals and_ _transfer_ _my power to him_ _,_ _prolonging his life as well as my imprisonment._ _”_ Yawen finished quietly. Jack could feel the vulnerability and sorrow coming from the Spirit. 

Jack wasn’t sure what exactly to say, he pressed a small white hand to her black feathers and pushed feelings through their bond. Understanding and compassion, as well as anger towards her last apprentice surged through their link. 

“What was his name?” Jack asked curiously. 

_“Hannibal Young. After seeing the Hannibal Roy Bean from your Universe, his betrayal no longer shocks_ _me._ Yawen replied. She stood up suddenly, ruffling her feathers to dispel the solemn mood that’d come over them. 

“ _But pay it no mind. I have a plan, apprentice, and it looks like it will come to fruition soon.”_ She stated ominously, her black eyes glinted. 

“ _That reminds me, Jack, we must set goals for you to accomplish in order to bring you to your_ _ultimate goal_ _of world dominati_ _on. Have any ideas for_ _your first goal_ _?”_ She questioned. Jack looked up at her with a sudden grin, he’d been thinking about this every night for the past month. 

“I want to steal the Wu from the Imperial Palace.” 

**-o)0(o-**

At around four in the morning, Yawen flew Jack to the Sapphire Serpent. 

Jack peered down at the city from Yawen’s back, awed at how loud the people were. The partying was _still_ going. As long as the moon hung full and heavy over them, the people of Quánlì would celebrate. 

Animals and creatures of all kinds buzzed around the Capital. There were even types of animals Jack had never seen before, strange and looming with toothy mouths and long claws. From even up high in the air Jack could hear the music and howls, smell baked bread and beer, feel the heat from bonfires lit safely across the city. It was hard for him to remember that all these animals were people in their Shifted forms, until he saw a band of mice playing music. Now he felt like he was in some strange version of Snow White. 

“Hey, Yawen, Lady Liao mentioned something about how everyone staying in Quánlì develops a Shift, do you think I...?” Jack trailed off. 

“Yes, Jack. We will begin unlocking your new Shift during our next practice.” She promised. 

Lights were all on at the Sapphire Serpent as they approached the building. Steam and the scent of tea wafted towards him. People bayed and cawed as they saw Yawen’s great feathered form fly over the building, growing even more frantic and wild in their partying. She dropped him off discreetly in the garden, leaving Jack with an affectionate ruffle from her beak, throwing his white hair into a mess. 

Jack stared in awe as he entered through the front doors, wolves lounged on the cushioned chairs, mice and guinea pigs played Xiangqi _,_ while birds of every type and about a hundred more species of animals flocked wildly around the tearooms. He even spotted the small otter form of Lady Liao rushing about, frantically picking up after messy customers. Some animals were wearing small wooden masks. Jack stared at a hulking bear seated nearby, who was wearing a dainty mask painted with what looked like a stylistic human face. 

“Some people wear masks so that others can recognize them.” A voice came from behind him. Jack whipped around and spotted a Siamese cat sitting patiently behind him. It took him a moment to recognize the voice. 

“Kimiko?” Jack cried in surprise, Kimiko let out a cheerful yowl in response, bounding towards him and leaping into his arms. 

“You’re so... adorable.” Jack cooed, rubbing her little furry head. She hissed in mock irritation this time, and playfully batted his arm with her clawed paw. 

“Hey! I am not adorable!” She protested, before wiggling from his arms. 

“Are you going to join the party, Jack?” She asked, Jack felt a sudden wave of exhaustion come over him. 

“I think I'll head to bed Kimiko, I’m kind of tired after my first training session.” Jack told her apologetically. She rubbed her little furry body against his legs affectionately. 

“Alright,” she whined, “Good night Jack! Be careful getting up the stairs, I’ll be with Tomoko if you need me!” She called, racing off to where a tigress and a panther were curled together quietly on a large blue loveseat. Jack knew the tigress was probably Tomoko, and he thought the panther seemed slightly familiar... 

Trudging up the stairs was a hassle; he nearly ran into a flying eel(?) and tripped over three snakes, then fell over when he spotted a person that looked like a terrifying cross between a shark and a giraffe. When he finally made it to the servants' quarters, he collapsed onto his mat with a groan. 

He could have fallen asleep as soon as his head hit the flat pillow, but the sounds of the outside party kept him awake. Jack was left lying there with his thoughts, which irritatingly went to the familiar topic of a certain dragon... 

Jack had no clue what the incident in the garden today was about, or why this Chase seemed _interested_ in him. It had to be some sick joke. Maybe he was bored and found Jack’s strangeness amusing? He didn’t know about that. But he did know that the memory of Chase’s huge hand against his cheek, the weight of those hands on his hips, and Jack’s own fingers clutching at Chase’s broad, strongly muscled shoulders- Yeah. That was going to keep him up at night. 

His little crush on Chase Young was inconvenient and would amount to nothing. It wasn’t like any version of Chase would ever have any kind of real interest in Jack. He was strange in appearance, no one wanted someone like _him_. 

Chase also stood in the way of his goals; Jack would only ruin his plans of stealing the Wu from the Palace if he got involved with him. ‘ _Yes,_ _’_ Jack thought decisively, 

‘ _I’m staying as far away as_ _possible_ _from_ _Chase Young_ _.’_

**-o)0(o-**

Miles away, Prince Chase Young touched down onto a clearing to rest. 

He Shifted back into his human form, and thoughtfully gazed at the full moon above him. 

A large, sickly looking boar, and a red scaled snake suddenly sprang into the clearing. Chase turned in surprise, and moved to confront them but before he could so much as blink, the snake let out a clicking hiss, and the Prince vanished in a burst of green light. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I added in a little Chase POV, and a little more plot ;)


	4. The Vision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh this chapter took forever for me to finish, but i finally got it done lol.  
> Enjoy!!

Knotted vines shot out to entrap Chase as soon as he appeared in a flash of green light. 

He snarled viciously, his muscles straining as he tried to escape the thorny magical plants. His scales rolled underneath his skin, pressing as if they wanted to Shift but held back by some magical force. He immediately scanned his surroundings for a way to escape, but all he found were ruins of some stone buildings and more vines. Glancing upwards, Chase took in the position of the stars –he was most likely somewhere in the Borderlands; he’d spent enough time travelling to understand how the sky differed in certain locations. 

“Now, now Chase, is that any way to greet your favorite Aunt?” Wuya drawled as she and Hannibal Young exited a swirling green portal, her body Shifting from her snake form to her human one. 

Chase didn’t dignify the traitorous witch with a response. He held his head high and narrowed his gold eyes in suspicion, watching the deranged form of his uncle pace around him. 

Deranged was the nicest word to describe the man. Hannibal was disgustingly sickly in appearance. So different from the uncle Chase once knew... 

Hannibal Young used to be an imposing man with tanned skin and thick black hair, but now his skin was almost purple and nastily mottled, his hair was gone, and his teeth were rotted completely. What shocked him the most was how Hannibal’s eyes had changed during his exile. Chase had always looked up to his uncle, in a way they were similar; both were younger princes destined to live in the shadows of their older and more popular brothers, and both were very involved in the war aspect of running a country. He always felt that the dangerous and sly look in his uncle's eyes was similar to the look in Chase’s own eyes. However, now his uncle’s eyes reflected only madness and anger while bugging sickeningly from his skull, the whites around his iris long turned to a rotten yellow. 

“Chase, my Nephew...” Hannibal called out in his deep accented voice, drawing Chase from his observations. After being met with stony silence from the Prince, Hannibal stretched his arms out invitingly at Chase. 

“It has been so long since the last time I’ve seen you! You have grown into a very impressive man, Chase. How long has it been since I've seen you though? Hmm...” Hannibal trailed off, his sickly purple hand coming up to stroke mockingly at his chin in thought. 

“It has been sixteen years since your banishment, if that’s what you mean Hannibal. If you’ve kidnapped me just to comment on how much I’ve grown, I’m going to have to question your sanity as well as your true motives for this meeting.” Chase stated bluntly, lifting a thick brow into an unimpressed expression. The vines wrapped around him tightened their hold irritably. 

“As blunt as ever, Nephew. Oh well, I guess I’ll come right out with it; I have a proposition for you. It’s a good one, too, or else I wouldn’t have risked being caught in the Capital and executed just to get to you.” Hannibal said, moving to stand besides Wuya. Chase scoffed. 

“A proposition? Why would I make a deal with a _traitor_ _?_ You truly must have lost your mind out here if you think I’ll agree to anything with the man who let foreign soldiers into the Capital and attempted to murder my _father_ in his bed.” Chase scathingly replied, his golden eyes flashing. 

Hannibal surged forward quickly, his face coming close to Chase’s unflinching one. Putrid yellow and red eyes locked onto Chase’s with a serious intensity. 

“But you're not upset about that, are you? No. You’re upset that I made a decision that resulted in me having to leave and you being _alone._ Me , the only person you ha ve that truly understands your life, left you alone in the Capital with my paranoid brother and his vapid son. Even Shadow could never understand the drive and _ambition_ that we both possess...” Hannibal murmured. 

Chase kept his gaze steady, and outwardly showed no emotion. 

It was... somewhat accurate. He had been seven when Hannibal was banished, and the change in dynamics his betrayal had caused among the royal family had affected Chase greatly. His father had eyed him with suspicion and distrust since then, drawing parallels between his youngest son and his younger brother. Chase lived like an outsider in his own home, always trying to impress his father with his accomplishments. 

Hannibal shifted back, a satisfied smirk stretching his crusted lips. Chase’s lack of reaction was a reaction in itself, giving Hannibal the signal that he’d hit a sore spot. 

“I think you will listen to my offer after all.” He stated smugly and gestured for Wuya to come to his side. She came quickly, holding a large flattened bowl filled with a strange frothing green liquid. 

“My Wife has foreseen something of the future, and it involves you, Nephew.” 

Wuya reached around his head to grip the long hair at his nape, and without warning, sharply jerked his head into the bowl. 

What he saw was almost incomprehensible yet somehow entirely clear, the same way a dream makes sense when you’re inside it but loses all semblance of order and reason as soon as you leave it. 

The Vision was a jumble of intense emotions and important events. Chase felt anger, despair, betrayal, and saw his brother Guan turning against him. He felt his brothers’ distrust as though it were his own, saw him going to their father, saw them _conspiring_ against him. He saw years, decades pass. He saw his own banishment as a result of Guans’ paranoia, Guans’ disastrous reign of the country, and the crumbling of Hébìng into the hands of the Borderland people. 

Perhaps most upsettingly, Chase saw his own life. He lived a lackluster and wretched existence. Alone, _unmarried_ , and banished, Chase watched as he faded away into old age. His body withered, crumbling and folding like wet paper until all that was left were his brittle bones. He watched and he was _terrified._

Wuya’s claw-like fingers wrenched his head from the bowl, Chase gasped. 

“ _What-”_ Chase started before he was cut off by Hannibal's short, bitter laugh. 

“ _That,_ Chase, was your future. But it doesn’t have to be.” Hannibal replied ominously, waving for Wuya to retrieve something from behind them. She returned with a strange pot, decorated with crudely made blue-eyed dragons. Her clawed hands gently removed the lid, allowing steam to rush out and reveal a strange kind of... soup? 

Chase stared, unimpressed. 

“This soup is _Lao_ _Mang_ _Lone soup,_ a creation my dearest Wife has discovered. It will grant its consumer with _immortality,_ as well as immense strength and power.” Hannibal boasted, Chase narrowed his eyes suspiciously. 

“What do you want in return? And why offer it to me? Have you tried it on yourself, Hannibal? Is it the cause of your deformed appearance?” He questioned harshly, eyeing his Uncle. 

“Hmm... No. Unfortunately, Nephew, my appearance is the result of a different attempt to gain immortality. What you see here is truly a gift, I only ask one thing... When you gain your new strength you will challenge Guan to the throne, and _win._ When you become Emperor, you can invite me home, Chase. All I want to do is return home.” Hannibal stated, his yellowed eyes searching Chase’s face imploringly. 

“This soup will give you everything you ever wanted; it is a means to reach your goals. You will never wither and die, you will remain youthful and powerful as you are now, _forever.”_ Hannibal tempted, the vines around Chase loosened as he approached his nephew, holding a bowl of the soup. 

The emotions he felt from the Vision were still coursing through him. That future... he did not want it. Chase wanted more, he wanted to be _Emperor_ , forever. A fleeting doubtful thought in the form of young Omi crossed his mind, but Chase willed it away, his nephew could come to forgive him in time. 

His hands twitched forward, coming up to cup the bowl. He would _never_ become that withered husk of a man. 

Chase drank the soup in three swift gulps. 

**-o)0(o-**

Metal and stone collided rhythmically, sending sparks across the cavernous room. Jack hunched over a makeshift desk, using a combination of magic and regular tools to solder and shape the metal in his hands. The furnace burned steadily behind him, illuminating the boiler room in a reddish glow. Tian had gone home early claiming –as usual- that he was too old to be staying up late. 

It worked out for Jack, because after he finished working in the Teahouse he could come down to the cavern and work on his own projects undisturbed. He’d been coming down here for the past three months since his first training session with Yawen, and today he finally felt ready. 

His project was almost complete. It’d taken months of making connections with people at the Teahouse, training with Yawen, and working down in the boiler rooms to get to this point, but he finally felt as though he was ready to break into the Royal Palace and steal the Shen Gong Wu. 

Everything was falling into place perfectly. Jack had started using his new magic infused Jack-bots (or should he call them Magic-bots now?) to contact his new connections. Since he had such a memorable appearance, he didn’t want anyone to be able to trace anything back to him. He’d noticed a high-ranking Palace guard that seemed to frequent the Teahouse often and followed him home one night. His Magic-bot had handled the deal while Jack watched from a nearby rooftop. All it took was a big lump of summoned gold and the man had practically thrown him the scrolls and blueprints describing the layout of the Palace along with the guard schedules. 

He pushed back from his desk, interlacing his fingers and setting his chin on top of them, his dark brows drawn in thought. 

A silver mask, it’s design similar to the back of his heli-pack, lied on the table. He’d need a mask for when he broke into the Palace as he didn’t want to reveal his identity just yet. 

Truthfully, Jack was not very nervous about his plan. He was breaking into an ancient Palace while using extremely advanced technology and magic, there was no way his plan would fail. For once in his life he was confident that things were going to work out. 

“Jack! Are you down there?” 

Jack scrambled to his feet at the sound of Kimiko’s voice, and rushed to hide his mask and other various blueprints and projects. 

“Oh, hey Kimiko. What did you need?” Jack asked nervously after she’d descended the stairs. 

“It’s laundry night, Idiot! We need you up on the third floor!” Kimiko exclaimed irritably, looking around the boiler room with an expression of vague disgust as she took in the large amounts of soot and grease coating everything. 

“Oh, right.” Jack groaned, he hated laundry night. 

Kimiko hauled him up the stairs after he’d thrown some extra coal into the furnace, complaining about his lateness the whole time. 

“It’s like, almost midnight, Jack. What do you even _do_ down here? It’s so dark and creepy.” She shivered dramatically, glancing down the stairs with a wary expression. 

Jack shrugged, “Just working on some of the old pipes... Hey, have the others started or are they waiting for us?” He tried to change the subject, not wanting her to pry into his eviler activities. 

She took the bait, “Of course they’ve started! Not like you were going to show up on time.” She huffed and launched into a rant about the injustice that was laundry night. 

When they reached the third floor, Jack slid back a wood and paper screen that served as the door to their room. He tugged off his sandals before he entered, then shed his upper robes and apron, leaving himself in only a black open-backed tank top and loose black pants. Bringing his top up to his nose he sniffed it and grimaced. ‘ _Yep, that’s dirty._ _’_

It was the only thing he had to wear though, as the rest of his clothes were even more disgusting, so he just shrugged and tossed all his dirty clothes into a pile on his mat. He also added his leather trench coat and jeans he’d kept hidden in his woven chest into the pile. Using the top blanket on his mat as a sack to carry his clothes, he rushed out of the room to where Kimiko was waiting. 

Half of the third floor consisted of small rooms for the women who worked and lived in the Teahouse, and the other half held an open area stuffed with large circular wooden tubs and pipes. Women clambered around the tubs, toting around woven baskets full of laundry. Since the Teahouse was closed the women could be as loud as they wanted to be. They sang songs together as they dunked clothes into the tubs and joked loudly as they wrung them out. Jack narrowly managed to avoid being splashed with soap suds as a large woman ambled by, humming to herself. 

His bare feet padded across the warm marble floors, carrying him to a tub besides an open window. Tomoko and Kimiko were already perched on the edges of the tub cleaning their own laundry. 

A gust of humid air from outside ruffled Jacks’ white hair as he reached up to grasp the edge of the tub. 

“Hey! Jack, you fix up those pipes on the big tub?” A woman called out to him. Jack thought he remembered her name... Xinyi? She was the supervisor for all the hosts and servers, but she rarely did her job. He looked towards where she was knee deep in suds, her long black hair tied up lazily into a bun and her dark hands placed expectantly on her hips. 

“Huh -oh! Yeah I did!” He’d almost forgotten. Yesterday he’d been asked to renovate the pipe that emptied out into the heavy-duty tub. He grinned, suddenly excited. 

Jack scrambled to the center of the room and onto a small ladder that lead to the top of the biggest tub. The women crowding the room noticed he was up to something and began to gather curiously around the tub, forming a small sea of black hair. It had gotten around that Jack was talented with all things mechanical –he'd already made an advanced version of the Teahouses’ pulley system, allowing the women to quickly transport heavy loads of dishes up and down the building with little effort- so they were all curious to see what new thing he’d come up with this time. 

“Behold ladies! Jack Spicer has done it again!” Jack trilled obnoxiously from the top of the tub, earning him a couple eyerolls from his crowd. 

He dramatically pulled on a lever, and one of the many pipes threaded across the ceiling lowered down, expanding into a large showerhead and releasing a strong jet of boiling water evenly into the tub. The women let out ooh’s and aah’s, peering curiously to watch the water spray out in a controlled stream. The old big tub had one pipe that just dumped water out before spluttering weakly and dying. 

As Jack headed back to get his own laundry done, the excited women thanked him with cheek pinches and affectionate hands ruffling his hair. He returned to his tub with red cheeks and a satisfied grin. 

“You’re such a mama's boy, Jack.” Kimiko teased when she noticed all the motherly pats the older women had showered him with. Jack shoved her in retaliation, causing her to tumble into the soapy tub with a loud splash. 

Later, when he’d finished soaking his clothes and avoided Kimiko’s attempts to drown him in two feet of soapy water, he plopped his clothes into a woven basket and went to squat out on the third-floor porch with a wooden washboard. His hands moved in absent minded rhythm, beating and wringing his shirts out with ease. As he started on his wet trench coat and jeans; his hands moved on their own while his mind began to wander. 

‘ _Tomorrow.’_ Jack thought decisively. 

He was going to execute his plan tomorrow. His shift ended conveniently at around the same time that the guard's shifts changed, giving him a small window of time to do his work. 

Stopping for a moment, Jack stared down at his old red t-shirt. The design had been slightly worn off from disuse. For a moment he felt strangely out of place, like a ghost that had moved on and was looking back on what it had left. 

His eyes slid eastward, gazing towards the Imperial Palace. 

Over the mounds of thick green trees, the Palace stood imposingly, same as always. Jack hadn’t seen _Prince_ Chase Young in almost three months, the man seemingly having disappeared after their last meeting. Of course, he knew Chase hadn’t really vanished. Shadow came by often enough, spilling idle gossip about her brothers (which confirmed Chase’s continued existence) to Tomoko during their little “secret’ encounters. 

Speaking of “secret” encounters, Jack had –unfortunately- walked into a broom closet once and stumbled upon them making out. 

‘ _Eugh_ _, don’t think about it, don’t think about it.’_ He shuddered. The image of Shadow’s disturbingly long tongue would haunt him forever. Jack didn’t know how, but somehow Tomoko had bagged a princess as a girlfriend sometime in the last few months. 

Anyway, Jack didn’t need to see _Chase_. Yeah. He had decided he was going to stay away from him , didn’t he? It all worked out. Sure, he was basically going to break into guys’ house tomorrow, but if Shadow was to be believed then Chase was somewhere in eastern Hébìng right now and would be there until next Tuesday. So, he wouldn’t even have the _chance_ to run into Chase tomorrow. Everything was good. 

Except- every time he caught Tomoko and Shadow exchanging fond looks, something in his chest ached. 

Happiness was something Jack had unexpectedly found here. He’d made a family at the Teahouse with Kimiko, Tomoko, and even Lady Liao. His plans were coming together, and he’d been growing stronger and eating healthier (because there was no such thing as junk food in this universe, a fact which Jack cursed often), everything was _good_ for once. And yet he still felt as though some piece of his puzzle was missing. 

“Jack? Are you done yet?” Kimiko called out softly from inside, startling him from his thoughts. 

Looking down, he realized he’d finished the last of his laundry without even thinking about it. He left with Kimiko, a woven basket balanced on his hip, staring at his feet in thought as they walked back to their room. His skin was paler than the marble, almost translucent. 

Once inside their room Jack hung his laundry on a small clothesline above his bed, and then collapsed onto his mat with a groan. He cupped his hands in front of him, sleepily observing how his flower-shaped scars had puckered from the water. 

Tomoko blew out the lantern in their room with one strong _whoosh_ from her lips, plunging Jack into a soft moonlit sleep. 

**-o)0(o-**

This was the _longest_ day Jack had ever experienced. 

His feet tapped anxiously as Lady Liao babbled about something to the crowd of employees in the kitchen. It was almost midnight and she was taking forever to dismiss them. What was she even talking about? Jack mentally groaned. 

“-We also need to work on shutting the fourth-floor windows in between breakfast and lunch, birds keep getting inside and making nests in the ceiling- What Xinyi? It’s Midni- Oh! Of course, sorry ladies, you’re dismissed!” Lady Liao announced apologetically. 

A collective sigh of relief traveled throughout the crowd, and they all rushed off either to bed or whatever Lady Liao had been holding them back from. Jack made his way quickly to the third floor to discreetly grab his black trench coat and jeans, bidding Kimiko and Tomoko goodnight and giving them the excuse that he would be down in the boiler room. 

He did head to the boiler room; to grab what he needed for the heist. 

After descending the old wooden stairs into the warm cavern, Jack went to his corner of the room and retrieved his silver mask. 

Changing quickly, Jack slipped on his trench coat, jeans, his old boots, along with a black undershirt that had a thick hood attached to it, and finally a pair of black gloves that completely covered his hands. His outfit covered every inch of skin along with his hair, ensuring that no one would see his skin and recognize him. He put on his mask last, sliding it slowly over his face before turning and pressing both of his hands to the cavern wall. 

Embedded deep into the rocky wall were ten fully developed Magic-bots, primed and ready to go. He hid them so that no one could stumble upon them and ruin his plans. Jack only needed to summon them out from the stone. The wall rumbled, stone crumbling away so that their metal bodies could crawl out and stand at attention in front of him, their huge bodies were also sleeker than his previous Jack-bots, making them better for sneaking around. 

Jack felt a slow grin overtake his lips. This was going to be _fun._

“Magic-bots, activate ghost mode!” Jack commanded, and on cue all ten of them disappeared. 

He’d learned how to imbed illusion magic into them from Yawen, allowing them to become invisible on command. Jack picked up his heli-pack, which he’d also upgraded, and rendered himself invisible as well before calling for his Magic-bots to move out. 

They flew swiftly over the river and the gate that surrounded the Palace. Jack’s heart pounded excitedly in his chest. Up close the Palace was even more gold-gilded and jaw dropping to behold. He couldn’t let himself get distracted though; the Shen Gong Wu chamber was located at the heart of the Palace, next to the Emperors’ bedroom. 

Walking quietly through sprawling jade hallways, Jack and his bots snuck undetected by guards and nobles. Jack had memorized every inch of the Palace blueprints; he knew this place like the back of his hand before he’d ever even set foot inside it. This place was _huge,_ and there were so many shiny things. Jack felt his fingers itch every three seconds, and a couple times he gave into the impulse to steal and snatched up a few shiny baubles. 

_‘Not like they’ll miss this stuff.’_ Jack thought while catching a glimpse of a wall made of solid gold as he stole a necklace with a giant ruby set in the center of its pendant. 

It took a while to reach the center of the Palace, but he eventually made his way to the huge golden doors of the Wu chamber. Jack waited silently for his cue. 

After about thirty minutes the guards standing stiffly in front of the doors were approached by two other guards and they swapped places silently, the old guards walking off. Jack waited for them to walk far enough away before snapping his fingers. Two of his Magic-bots leapt forward and knocked out both new guards. A third bot stuck its finger into the giant lock on the door, and after a few moments and some jangling sounds, the door unlocked with a muted _click_. 

Jack grinned triumphantly, and silently pushed the huge doors open. 

He moved to step forward but stopped abruptly. Sleeping on the ground was the monks’ tiny dragon, what was his name? Dojo? ‘ _H_ _uh_ _, looks like the little lizard’s lazy even in this universe.’_ Jack thought amusedly. The creature looked cute for once so he gently scooted the sleeping dragon out of the room with his foot, instead of kicking him like he normally would have. 

When Jack looked up as he finally stepped into the room; his jaw dropped. 

At least eighty Wu were all collected in the large ornate room. A thick cloud of magic settled cloyingly over the room. Jack became almost dizzy as he felt their collective power wash over him. 

He snapped twice, and he and his bots dropped their invisibility. The bots immediately began collecting Wu and storing them inside special compartments built into their bodies. Jack leisurely moved deeper into the room, his bots doing most of the work. His hands traced gently over the Lunar Locket and the Eye of Dashi. 

‘ _If only_ _Wuya_ _could see me now, her head would probably explode from jealousy_ _._ _’_ Jack thought to himself and held the Lunar Locket up to his neck. His Magic-bots worked quickly and silently in the background, scooping up as many Wu as they could. 

“Impressive that a little Thief such as yourself has made it this far into the Palace, no one has ever broken into the sacred chamber before. Unfortunately, you left the door open.” A voice drawled lazily from behind him. 

“ _AAH!”_ Jack screeched, almost falling on his ass as he whipped around just in time to see the doors close with a _WHAM_ and reveal the imposing figure of Chase Young. 

‘ _SHIT.’_ Jack thought. _‘What the is he doing here?’_ He was supposed to be in another city tonight. 

Chase was leaned casually against the wall with his arms crossed, clad in a more traditional looking version of his signature green armor. A vicious smirk cut across his handsome face. Jack thought something seemed different about him... or maybe more familiar? 

In a flash, Chase was across the room. Wrapping a thick arm around Jack’s waist to still him, he brought a glinting knife up to Jack’s cloth covered neck. The hard line of Chase’s taller body encased Jack from behind and he felt his breath stutter at the sensation. 

“It’s a shame such talent will have to be wasted by my knife. You will die for this transgression, _Thief.”_ Chase hissed and, okay, it was kind of hot when he got all angry. 

Chase’s first mistake of the night was assuming Jack would be afraid of him; his second was using a _metal_ knife. 

Jack melted the knife with a thought and twisted lithely out of Chase’s arms, one of his legs coming up to kick the man’s face as he turned. 

‘ _Wow, those awful training exercises_ _and martial arts lessons_ _with_ _Yawen_ _really_ _did come in handy.”_ Jack thought to himself as he retreated to the other side of the room. He let out a high whistle to signal for his Magic-bots to escape. They immediately turned invisible and charged straight through the walls with zero subtly. 

Well, his cover was already blown. ‘ _As long as they get away.’_ Jack thought with a mental shrug before turning back to the rapidly approaching Prince. 

They met each other head on, and Jack felt like he was flying from the endorphins rushing through his body. There _w_ _as_ something different about Chase, he was faster and stronger, almost overpowering Jack with every strike. Jack could go toe to toe with him, but just barely. It felt exhilarating and strangely intimate, like dancing. They slid and collided with one another. Jab, parry, kick, every strike brought them closer together until Jack was almost enclosed in Chase’s arms. 

This close, he could notice the details of Chase’s face. Enamored, he watched the way Chase’s brows furrowed with every missed hit, and how his lips pulled into a pleased grin whenever Jack was forced closer. That grin was mirrored on Jack’s own face underneath his mask. 

Then, Jack saw it. After one particularly hard jab to the stomach from Jack, Chase’s pupils narrowed unnaturally into thin slits of irritation. 

‘ _The soup! He drank the soup, but how?’_ Jack realized, his red eyes widening under the mask. Remembering the other Chase Young’s beastly true form, Jack decided he needed to get out of there. Now. 

Spotting a hole that’d been blasted into the ceiling by one of his escaping Magic-bots, Jack grinned. He’d won this round. He took off running and leapt over a pile of Wu, snatching up a couple into his pockets as he went. Chase followed in close pursuit, but it was too late. Jack’s heli-pack activated and sent him soaring up to the ceiling. 

“Sad to say, but it looks like the only thing wasted today was your knife!” Jack mocked loudly, before activating his invisibility illusion and flying away, his evil laughter echoing impressively behind him. 

Unfortunately for Jack, he didn’t notice that as he’d taken flight the leg of his jeans had ridden up, revealing his pale white calf and ankle. He also didn’t notice how Chase’s eyes zeroed in on his leg, and he most _certainly_ did not notice the hungry grin and knowing glint in Chase’s eyes as he watched his getaway. 

**-o)0(o-**

It was one week after Jack’s heist that things started getting weird. 

His heist had been a success. Well, partly a success. He’d gotten away with exactly seventy-seven Wu, which was a _lot_ of Wu. But there had still been two small piles of Wu left behind in the chamber. 

Eh, He could go back for the rest of them. The point was Jack had _seventy-seven Wu_ hidden inside the walls of the boiler room, all under his complete control. Along with a really nice ruby necklace and an old solid gold helmet he’d stolen. He couldn’t wait to tell Yawen about how successful he’d been! She might already know, probably sensing his excitement through their mental link, but whatever. 

Ah, how he loved to be bad. Jack cackled evilly to himself as he scrubbed the floor of the Teahouse's sixth level. 

A wet towel smacked him in the back of the head. 

“No laughing.” Xinyi grumped, before going back to wringing out the towels. 

Jack stuck his tongue out at the back of her head before going back to scrubbing. He hated it when she actually did her job and supervised the employees. Kimiko snickered at him from where she was also scrubbing the floor to his left, and Jack pettily threw a pile of dust onto her section of the floor. 

That was another thing. The Teahouse had been buzzing with gossip all week since his heist. 

Jack had been successful in hiding his identity, since the Royal Palace hadn’t released any statements about catching a thief with his description. Actually, the Palace hadn’t released _any_ information. They were attempting to hide all evidence of the break-in in order to keep the citizens of Hébìng blissfully ignorant and avoid letting the Borderland people know that Hébìng had lost almost all of their most precious and powerful artifacts in one night. 

They weren’t completely successful in stomping out the rumors. Some of the palace guards had gossiped at the Teahouse and the rumors that the Palace had been robbed began spreading like wildfire. 

Jack felt smug satisfaction every time he overheard whispers of the “Mysterious Masked Thief” who was the first person _ever_ to successfully break into the Palace. People speculated that Prince Chase Young was probably furious, as he had once claimed that his army and guards were the most competent and deadly ever trained. 

_Chase Young._

‘ _That asshole.’_ Jack thought as he aggressively scrubbed a sticky spot on the floor. ‘ _I was so close to getting ALL of the Wu.’_

Despite his irritation, Jack blushed. 

Just thinking about the man had his toes curling in his wooden sandals. He could still feel the phantom sensation of the taller man’s body pressed against his. Whenever he blinked, he swore the sight of Chase’s handsome face and golden eyes would flicker behind his eyelids... 

He scrubbed at the floor harder, trying to will away the heat in his cheeks. 

Well, Chase was part of why his week had started getting weirder. 

The Royal family, in their desperation to appear like everything was fine, had started doing _family outings._ Their preferred place to visit? The Teahouse. And, because this particular universe (and a certain dragon prince) liked to mess with Jack, he had been made their personal Host that attended to them whenever they decided to visit. 

The first Family Outing had been three days ago, on Wednesday, and they’d visited the Teahouse every morning since. Jack still remembered how strange that day had been... 

**-o)0(o-**

“Jack! Tomoko! Lin! With me, please.” Lady Liao called out across the kitchen. Jack and Tomoko left their breakfast half eaten in order to join Lady Liao and another host -a timid girl named Lin-as they walked up to the seventh floor. 

“Oh! It is a joyous day indeed! The Royal Family has expressed interest in making their visits to the Teahouse a daily occurrence, can you believe it! Just wait until I tell my mother about this, how proud the Liao Family will be! Oh, Praise Yawen! We are so blessed-” Lady Liao gushed on as she led them up the stairs. Jack felt his whole-body cringe. 

Lady Liao suddenly stopped mid-step on the fifth floor. She turned and beamed at them. 

“Jack, Tomoko, you’ll be pleased to know that the Royals were impressed by your professionalism during their last visit and have requested both of you as their personal Hosts! You’ll be working for them whenever they visit.” She smiled fondly at them before continuing up the stairs, chattering on about Prince Guan’s chest muscles or something equally mentally scarring to hear. 

Jack felt his blood turn to ice. Requested them? Something about that... made him nervous. Did Chase figure him out? Or was he just being paranoid? 

To hide his sudden nervousness, Jack turned to Tomoko and started making exaggerated kissy faces. Tomoko scowled and shoved a hand into his face, her golden skin turning pink at the thought of seeing Shadow more often. He didn’t let up in his teasing until Tomoko grabbed him by the ear and quietly threatened to shave off his eyebrows in his sleep. 

Jack rubbed his ears and pouted when she let him go. ‘ _Sheesh...’_ Tomoko was such an intensely private person sometimes, so different from her sister who wore her (often angry) emotions on her sleeve. 

Lady Liao handed them clean uniforms and sent them off to retrieve the food and tea. However, as they left the room, Lady Liao requested that Jack stay behind so that she could talk to him. 

“Jack,” She said softly, placing a reassuring hand on his arm. “Are you comfortable working for the Prince?” 

He spluttered in surprise, his red eyes opening wide. Lady Liao only looked up at him with a serious expression on her beautiful round face 

“I know the Prince has expressed an... interest in you. He’s come by the Teahouse before and asked as to where you were. Jack, if you ever feel any discomfort while working for him, I want you to know that you can come to me and I’ll do everything in my power to remove you from his presence.” 

An embarrassed blush burned his cheeks. He was secretly touched by the concern Lady Liao showed for him. He couldn’t say he didn’t want to work for Chase though, as his refusal to work for the Royal Family might make him look suspicious. He had to play it safe. 

“It’s fine, Lady Liao. Anyway, are you really saying that you would give up the Royal's good opinion just for me?” Jack tried to tease, his lips quirking into a nervous smile. The Lady raised her dark-skinned hand and gently pinched Jack’s pale cheek. 

“Yes.” She said seriously, before nudging him forward, “Now, if you’re sure you're fine, get to work!” and with that he scurried off after Tomoko and Lin. 

When the three hosts returned, they wheeled their cart stuffed full of honeyed bread and fragrant tea up to the seventh floor, Jack found that he was still in awe at the complete luxury and beauty of the floor. Fresh morning air saturated the whole wall-less room and blue curtains rippled the morning sunlight, casting golden hued beams of light across the marble. 

He studied the clouds drifting across the marble room to avoid looking at Chase. 

“Emperor Dashi, I am honored to have you in my Teahouse.” Lady Liao spoke, voice completely serious as she and the Hosts bowed solemnly. 

Jack looked up in surprise, the Emperor? He hadn’t met or even seen the man in all his time at the Teahouse, or even when he’d broken into the Palace. He looked at the man, discreetly curious. 

He was older, and bald. But surprisingly handsome for a man his age. Jack mentally gagged as he realized he had thought an old guy looked good. He couldn’t deny it though –Lady Liao had been right- the Emperor was a charming man who –when you looked at him- you could tell had once been extremely handsome in his youth. He wore surprisingly simple blue robes and sat with the little five-year-old Omi balanced on his knee. Guan, Shadow, and Chase were there as well, all of them patiently watching Tomoko perform the tea ceremony again. 

Jack’s knees wobbled when he looked at Chase. He hadn’t seen him since his heist a few days ago. The memory of Chase's large hands gripping his waist had Jack’s head feeling light. He stared at Chase’s profile, memorizing the sharp angle of his nose and the curve of his lips illuminated by the golden sunlight. 

Gold eyes blinked in his direction, shocking him out of his daze. 

Chase looked at the albino teen out of the corner of his eye for a moment, the barest hint of a smirk flashing across his lips before he turned his attention back to what his father was talking about. His expression becoming hard and impassive as he watched his father speak. 

A bead of sweat rolled down Jack’s neck. 

‘ _Does he know? Or was that just a regular smirk? No, he couldn’t know_ _._ _If_ _he’d recognized me that_ _night,_ _then I'd be_ _sitting in_ _a_ _dungeon right now._ _”_

While refilling the teacups at the table, Jack absent mindedly listened to the Royals chat. 

“-Good, good. You’ve done well, Guan.” Dashi said in response to something Guan had said, the Emperor glanced at Chase for a moment uncomfortably. “And... you too, Chase.” He tacked on. Chase dipped his head in acknowledgement, saying nothing. 

_“_ _Yéyé_ _(Grandfather)_! Look! Look at what I can do!” Omi jumped in place, trying to capture his grandfather’s attention. Dashi watched bemusedly as Omi dropped down to the floor and wobbled a little bit away. The little boy clapped his hands together above his head, and Jack jealously watched as the child sprouted golden feathers all over his body, shrinking down into a... duckling? 

A snicker almost escaped his mouth, but he caught it in time. 

‘ _Oh, this is too good!’_ Jack thought gleefully. 

The little brat’s Shifted form was a _duckling_. Totally not awe inspiring. 

Dashi clapped softly, grinning at his grandson’s antics. 

“Impressive.” Dashi commented lightly, the duckling wiggled its feather butt and waddled up to Guan. 

Jack was a little jealous that a five-year-old could Shift and Jack -even after months of training- had yet to figure out how to do it. His training sessions with Yawen usually ended in disappointment and frustration whenever he tried to attempt it. 

He hoped that once he figured it out, he would turn into something cool. Like a dinosaur. Or a monkey. Jack had enjoyed being a monkey. An image of the Monkey Staff popped into his head, and Jack sighed silently. Things were so much simpler when all he’d cared about was bananas and swinging around... 

**-o)0(o-**

Surprisingly, the rest of that morning as well as every other morning after that went by with nothing interesting happening. Jack sat through long hours of idle chit chatting, strained conversations between Chase and Dashi (which Jack found slightly interesting, he wondered what the beef was between them?), and Omi’s annoyingly loud screeches. 

What _was_ weird about the past few days was that Chase had barely even acknowledged him, only giving him distracted glances and thanking him whenever he served him tea. 

A foot appeared in front of Jack’s face, drawing him out of his thoughts. He looked up from where he was scrubbing the floor to see Xinyi staring down at him. 

“Did you hear me? It’s almost ten, you’re dismissed for the night.” Xinyi paused, looking at the parts of the floor he’d cleaned. “Good job on the floor, Jack.” She added before walking off. 

Peering tiredly out of one of the large windows he realized it _was_ dark outside already. The rest of the room was empty, Jack assumed the others and Kimiko had already headed back to the servants quarters. When he trudged down to the third floor and slid back the wooden screen to his room, he found Kimiko and Tomoko already relaxing on their mats, a small lantern casting the room in a soft orange glow. 

“Jack! Come here, you have to try this stuff.” Kimiko gushed; she was smearing a leafy smelling paste onto her hair as she gestured with her elbow to a small jar on the floor. 

“Uhh, no thanks Kimiko. I think I'm good.” Jack held his hands up and scooted over to his mat. 

“Oh, come on, it’ll help with your dead ends!” She whined. Tomoko rolled her eyes at her sister’s antics from where she sat on her mat writing something on a piece of parchment. 

“Hey! I don’t have dead ends...” Jack pouted, pulling a short strand of white hair into his face to stare at it. Okay... maybe he did have _some_ hair damage. Years of dyeing your hair red will do that. 

Kimiko pounced across the room, a glop of the foul-smelling paste on her fingers. Her attack led to an all-out squabble as the two began kicking and smacking each other's arms away. 

The wooden screen door slid open to reveal Lady Liao in a simple blue dress holding a small package. She raised a brow at their fighting before clearing her throat delicately. Jack and Kimiko separated quickly, their cheeks red from embarrassment. Jack had globs of paste smeared in his hair and across his face. Tomoko huffed in annoyance at all the commotion, hunching further over her parchment. 

“This came for you Jack, it was left at my door a few moments ago. Though, I didn’t see who left it.” Lady Liao offered the package to him before bidding them goodnight and sliding the door shut. 

“Ooh open it! I want to see! Who’s it from?” Kimiko begged, leaning over his shoulder. Jack elbowed her in the side and curled over the package protectively. 

“It doesn’t say who it’s from...” Jack frowned, turning the package this way and that. It was a square shaped gift, wrapped in obviously expensive silver paper. He was stumped, who could’ve sent this to him? And why? 

Shrugging to himself, ‘ _I’m not about to look the gift horse in the mouth.”_ Jack thought. He tore the paper open excitedly, revealing a red wooden box. It was a puzzle, he realized. Slightly different than Wuya’s box but still a little similar in how it was solved. He slid the sanded pieces of the box around quickly, effortlessly unlocking the puzzle. 

‘ _Huh.’_ He stared into the box. A small silver hair comb sat inside. Grabbing it and bringing it out, Jack examined it in the lamplight. 

It was beautiful and delicately crafted, the energy inside the metal sung in his hands. Silver vines and flowers wound around the thickest part of the comb, leading his eyes to the center where a large blood red ruby was inlaid, fat and glistening between silver leaves. 

Kimiko screamed, her eyes going wide in excitement. 

“Jack! You got a courtship comb? _Who_ have you been sneaking around with and _w_ _hy_ have you not told us?” She squealed, smacking him over the head playfully. Even Tomoko looked up from her parchment, her golden-brown eyes wide in shock. 

“A Courtship what?” Jack asked, bewildered. 

Kimiko stared at him like he’d grown three heads and started singing opera music. 

_“_ You don’t know what a _C_ _ourtship_ _C_ _omb_ is?” She shrieked. Jack shook his head no, his red eyes wide and uncertain. 

“Jack, a Courtship Comb is what the name implies; it’s an offer given by a suitor to someone they wish to begin a courtship with. Someone wants to begin a relationship with you that will most likely end in marriage. And this someone is _serious_ about this courtship offer, based on the quality of the comb.” Tomoko explained, scooting closer to gaze enviously at the comb. “If you want to accept the offer, all you have to do is pin it to your hair and go around like that for a whole day.” 

Jack felt bad for a moment as he remembered something Tomoko had confided in him a few days ago. She’d been upset and Jack had tried to talk to her. She’d explained that she was upset about her secret relationship with the Princess, as it was probably doomed to end. The Emperor would never allow his only daughter to court a commoner who worked in a Teahouse... 

Wait- did she say _marriage_ ? What the hell. Jack felt dizzy . Someone wanted to marry him. Who the hell wanted to marry _him_? 

“Who’s it from Jack? Huh? I bet it’s that one guy that sits on the second floor every morning. What was his name... Tubbimura! Yeah! I bet you thought I didn’t notice you staring at him that one day, but I did!” Kimiko shouted. A woman from the next room yelled for them to shut up and go to bed. 

Jack rolled his red eyes. He was only shocked to see the overweight ninja is all, not secretly having an affair with him. 

“I really don’t know who it is, Kimiko. Maybe I have a creepy stalker, or someone sent this to me on accident.” Jack said. Kimiko didn’t buy it, but after ten more minutes of quiet arguing she left it alone and crawled disappointedly into her mat. 

Jack curled into his blankets as Tomoko blew out the lantern. He gently held the comb in his scarred hands, watching the way it shone in the moonlight that streamed through their large window. He didn’t know who could have given him this- it was so _weird._ Just another strange thing to add to the list of events that’d occurred this week. Deep down inside Jack, he felt a small flicker of... something. Hope, probably. That this comb wasn’t a joke or a fluke, that maybe someone had sent it seriously. Hope that maybe that someone was Chase Young. 

He smooshed his head into his pillow and let out a quietly strangled scream. 

‘ _Quit the wishful thinking, Jack. It’s probably just some kind of elaborate prank.’_

A hand smacked his leg. 

“Go to sleep, I can hear you thinking.” Kimiko grumbled. 

Huffing, Jack turned onto his side and put the comb into its box, then placed the gift next to his makeup box to the right of his mat.

He didn't sleep well that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chase Young is actually just so sexy, If i were in Jack's position i would simply Marry Him and have his dragon babies  
> also, I weirdly started shipping Wuya and Hannibal while writing this chapter? I mean I planned for them to be a couple in this AU but as I wrote it I kinda wanted to make them more couple-y.  
> Also, next chapter Jack's suitor is revealed, Hannibal plots something, and a new character is introduced ;)


	5. Bloom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a warning for this chapter, there's a little bit of non-con touching, but it's not between Jack/Chase.

Satisfied, Chase smirked at the sight of pale hands wrapped tenderly around his Courtship Comb. 

He backed away from the large window, retreating further into the shadows draped across the Sapphire Serpent’s porch. _Of course_ , Chase had spied on the beautiful teen as he’d opened his gift. He wasn’t one to drop off gifts and then move on without seeing how they were received. Especially not with a gift as important as this one. 

It seemed his gift had been accepted happily, even if Jack was confused as to who had sent it. Chase needed it that way, for now. If his father found out about the Courtship, he would not be as lenient with Chase as he was with Shadow. 

However, once Chase won the throne from Guan, everything would be different. 

Shadow would be free to pursue her little hostess, and Chase... Chase would be needing a companion. A _Consort,_ to rule by his side. He wanted someone cunning and talented; someone lovely to behold; someone who was _J_ _a_ _ck Spicer_ _._

He’d been greatly impressed by the cunning and skill Jack had shown when he’d broken into the Palace. Whoever had trained Spicer had done well... 

The pale teen’s magical talents were formidable, and his martial arts skills –while a little amateurish- were also quite good. He most admired the ambition he sensed from Jack, not to mention his creativity and daring. Stealing the Wu... There was only one thing Jack must desire to accomplish with the Wu; to rule the world. Chase could respect that, as it was his own goal as well. However, there could not be two people trying rule to the world as that would mean he would have to fight for control against Jack, and Chase had no interest in fighting over what he already considered _his_. He could kill the boy but... he found that option strangely abhorrent. Someone so intriguing and talented did not deserve to meet such an untimely end. 

_Yes_ , he had another solution for how to deal with Jack; he was going to _marry_ him. 

Together they would rule over Hébìng, conquering territory until they ruled the world. And perhaps... Chase would share the Lao Mang Lone soup with Jack, allowing him to join Chase in eternity. 

His uncle had been surprisingly generous by offering Chase the soup, as he had suffered no ill side effects from it. Well, aside from the loss of his soul. But what use was a soul when you could live forever? When you could be impervious to weapons, sickness, and time? He was also stronger than he had ever been before, filled with a sense of power. His senses had grown sharper; his thoughts coming quicker and his hands responding faster. 

Whenever he Shifted into his dragon form, he’d noticed that he’d grown much larger and longer, towering impressively over trees and buildings. The only thing he would consider a side effect would be that he was more prone to bursts of... animalistic behavior? He did not know what to call it, he simply noticed that it’d become easier for him to become angry, territorial, and almost overly aggressive at times. These new and intense emotions were easy to overcome with strict meditation and exercise, so he did not worry over them. 

Chase had not seen Jack since he’d last met him in the Teahouse garden months ago, but that did not mean he’d lost interest in the boy. Quite the opposite. He desired the pale skinned youth so greatly that he’d had to distance himself from him, lest his control slip and his plans unravel. 

The past three months Chase had spent travelling; making allies and gaining the loyalty of nobles and high-ranking officials across Hébìng, ensuring he would have support once he seized control of the throne. 

He had plans, and the time for them to be put into action was soon approaching... 

**-o)0(o-**

“Hannibal! A letter from Chase has arrived.” Wuya called out, trudging through their shack of a house. She hoped this scheme her husband had come up with ended well, she couldn’t wait to live in something that wasn’t a poverty-stricken hut. 

“Ah, yes.” Hannibal murmured from a low stool he sat on. Wuya came to his side, resting her chin on his shoulder, her arms looped loosely around his neck as he opened the letter. 

After a few moments of silence and reading, Hannibal grinned disgustingly. 

“Perfect... Wuya, my dearest wife, we will soon be leaving poverty and disgrace if this plot of Chase’s works out.” Hannibal told her. She grinned viciously in response. 

“Jermaine!” Hannibal called loudly. He grabbed the item that would ensure their victory and eventual control over all Hébìng and handed it over to Wuya. 

A young boy of about fourteen came out of another room, his skin was dark like Wuya’s and his face was handsome. 

“Jermaine, your cousin has planned two events to take place in the next two weeks. The first is a tea party wherein all the most influential and wealthy people in Hébìng will be invited, then a week later there will be a Ball at the Imperial Palace. After the ball, your cousin will challenge Guan to the throne. When he wins is when you come in...” Hannibal informed his son. He waved at Wuya and she came forward, placing a bronze knife and a bag of gold into her son’s hands. 

“You will go south and find a powerful and wealthy man by the name of Pandabubba. Give him this gold and convince him to take you to the tea party as his nephew. Stay for both events, and when Chase becomes heir to the throne and signs a decree revoking our banishment, you will take this knife, and kill both the Emperor and Chase. Do _not_ under any circumstances lose this knife. It is a magical object, the only one that can kill Chase Young.” Hannibal said sternly, staring at his son with bloodshot and putrid yellow eyes. 

The boy nodded nervously. 

“Now, _go.”_ the banished prince ordered, and his son nodded once. 

The young boy placed the knife and the bag between his teeth before Shifting into a ruffled brown wolf and slipping out of the house. 

Wuya and Hannibal's loud cackling echoed behind Jermaine as he ran. 

**-o)0(o-**

_‘God, I hate menial labor.’_ Jack whined to himself in his head. If he’d complained out loud, he was sure Xinyi would’ve miraculously appeared to smack him. 

Wiping his sweaty forehead with the black sleeve of his work uniform, Jack slouched over the oven and panted. From besides him Tomoko reached into her blue apron and pulled out her hand fan -the one she’d bought from Raimundo- and fanned herself tiredly. 

It was so _hot._ Smoke and steam rose around them and twenty other Teahouse workers as they worked frantically in the Palace kitchen. 

Jack had rolled bread dough, steeped tea leaves, pulled wide pans from ovens, and carted baskets of fruit and tubs of milk around for five hours straight –he was _exhausted_. And for what? A tea party? He cursed the royals (most especially Chase) under his breath for coming up with the idea to host a party in the first place. Everyone knew the party and the Ball were just attempts to draw the public’s attention away from the Shen Gong Wu rumors. Jack felt nervous just being inside the Palace, paranoid that he’d be arrested at any moment. That nervousness turned into agitation as the hours of work went on and the tea party’s start drew closer. 

Inside his mind, he felt the mental bond he shared with Yawen thrum with her amusement. 

Tiredly, Jack sent back a wave of irritation over the bond. It only resulted in her becoming more amused. 

‘ _Stupid bird.’_ Jack thought irritably. 

Around him, the other Teahouse workers slowed down, the women lethargically working in the late evening heat. Only Kimiko seemed unaffected. She was perfectly at ease in the heat and chattering away to Tomoko in excitement as the party’s start time drew nearer. The prospect of being around the most wealthy and powerful people in all Hébìng had most of the employees gossiping excitedly. Personally, Jack was just dreading having to serve Chase Young tea for several hours straight. 

A loud bang interrupted the sounds of the kitchen as Lady Liao burst through the doorway. Her blue hanfu was rumpled and her silver hair jewelry was askew -the poor woman was not taking the stress of catering well. 

“What are you all doing standing around? Get to work!” The little woman cried, throwing her hands into the air. At her cry, the women threw themselves back into their work, picking up the pace. 

“Jack, Kimiko, Tomoko! With me!” Lady Liao ordered, sweeping back out of the room quickly. Jack and the sisters scrambled to catch up with her. She was surprisingly fast for someone with such small legs. 

They were led through the halls of the Palace. Since he wasn’t here to rob the place this time, Jack allowed himself to take in all the details and admire the solid gold walls as they walked. Lady Liao took them to a small room with fresh robes, a basin of water, and a small mirror. 

“Freshen up! I want you all to look your best when you serve the Royals!” Lady Liao called as she rushed out of the door. 

Inside his apron Jack had stored his small makeup box, along with the Changing Chopsticks and the Monkey Staff (which he’d shrunken down with the chopsticks). He pulled out his makeup box, because there was no _way_ he was going out in front of a bunch of rich people and royalty looking like he’d been beaten by wild bulls. He reached for the small handheld mirror at the same time Kimiko did, which led to them fighting over it loudly. 

“You both are such children sometimes.” Tomoko commented as she swiped the mirror from them, using it for herself. The nineteen-year-old albino and twenty-year-old Teahouse host pouted together behind her before they decided to do each other's makeup since they had no mirror. 

As Jack left the room after they’d finished, he caught sight of himself in Tomoko’s mirror. 

He looked... _Nice_. He felt like he could go out into the dining room and be confident that he didn’t look disgusting. Which was a big deal, since Jack usually felt perpetually unattractive. With his signature black eyeliner, red flowers painted onto his forehead, and rosy rouged cheeks, he walked out to meet Lady Liao in the hallway. 

She smiled fondly at Jack, before her expression morphed back into an anxious one as she led them to the dining room. They made a quick stop by the kitchen to pick up some of the other servers as well as a few silver carts loaded with teapots, sweetbreads, and fruit. 

Jack used the name ‘Dining Room’ lightly; the room was the size of a football field and it wasn’t even half as big as the room the Ball would be held in. The floor was made of solid jade polished so well that Jack could see his own reflection in it. Every wall was ornately decorated with gold leaf dragons that curled up towards a completely glass ceiling. It was _packed_ inside the room. Jack’s jaw dropped as he pushed his cart through a crowd of people dressed in a million different colors and types of silk. 

At the end of the room was a raised section of the floor crowded with tables and potted plants. The Royals were all seated there, and Jack –embarrassingly- latched immediately onto the sight of Chase. He was seated at the end of the largest table besides Guan and Shadow, dressed in a sleek black high collared outfit, his wild black-green hair swept charmingly over his broad shoulders. 

Jack’s heartrate sped up dangerously as those golden eyes landed on him from across the room, and _stayed_ on him. 

The Emperor stood from his chair, and the room abruptly went quiet.

Dashi was dressed far more elaborately today, in royal yellow robes embroidered with silk roosters. Dojo was curled around his shoulders, snoring away. The old man blabbered on about something, Jack did not care to listen closely as he was still being stared at by Chase. 

“... thank my son, Chase, for originally suggesting we hold these events. With that said, I believe it is time we begin!” Dashi announced, and the crowd lurched back into excited conversation. 

Jack narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he heard the end of Dashi's speech. Chase merely stared back at him, smug, before turning to his sister. 

Fingers pinched Jack in the side. 

“ _OW.”_ he hissed, clutching his side with one hand. 

“Get to work, or Lady Liao’s going to come over here and pester us!” Kimiko hissed, slanting her cat-like eyes at him before she disappeared into the crowd, heading towards the royals. Jack sighed and followed her. 

Hours passed uneventfully. He served tea and handed out food, gaining no attention from anyone he passed. Not even Chase acknowledged his presence whenever Jack filled his cup. When he wasn’t rushing around, he stood –bored out of his mind- behind the Royals table with his cart waiting to be called upon. Kimiko and Tomoko had been called away to work in the crowd early on into the party, leaving him alone. Jack was standing behind the royal table now, with nothing better to do than stare at the back of Chase’s head (it wasn’t a bad sight, he had to admit), when a familiar man suddenly approached. 

“Ahh, Lord Pandabubba. It’s been awhile since you’ve been to the Capital. Sit, sit! Tell me how the South is doing.” Dashi drawled, waving the stocky man over. Jack watched him warily, noting that the man looked the same except this time was dressed in a traditional kimono. A young boy was at the man’s side who looked familiar to Jack... What was his name? Something with a J? Jermaine? 

“Host, prepare a space for Lord Pandabubba and his nephew besides Chase.” Dashi ordered. 

Jack irritably pulled over chairs for the two to sit at and placed plates and cups down onto the table. When the two new arrivals were seated, Jack squeezed between Chase and Pandabubba with a large porcelain tea pot to pour Pandabubba some tea. 

It was uncomfortable, and awkward. He poured the tea quickly and moved to escape. Before he could retreat however, a large sweaty hand grabbed Jack’s thin wrist, trapping him in place. 

“Hmm, strange that such a pretty little thing like you is working as a server.” Pandabubba drawled in a low voice, smiling predatorily as he eyed Jack up and down. 

_‘Gross_ _.'_ Jack gagged. He did not need the experience of being hit on by Pandabubba. 

Pandabubba leaned forward, his thick humid breath spreading over Jack’s neck and ear disgustingly. 

“I think you’d do much better working on your _back_ -” Pandabubba began to slimily suggest when a vicious snarl from someone on the other side of Jack cut him off. 

Jack and Pandabubba looked to Chase in shock, the snarl only being loud enough for the two of them to hear. But Chase was seated calmly, the only things that hinted at his irritation were his hands which gripped his cup tightly, and his pupils which were dangerously slitted. 

_“Jack.”_ The Prince ground out, not looking at the albino, “These biscuits have become stale. Head to the kitchen and retrieve fresh ones.” Chase ordered. Jack rushed to obey, not wanting to be in Pandabubba’s presence any longer. Pandabubba let him escape, but not without discreetly groping Jack’s ass first. 

Jack shuddered in disgust, getting the fuck out of there as soon as possible. He pushed his silver cart down the hallway outside of the ballroom. Luckily, the hall was empty, so he stopped the cart for a moment to slump against the wall and release a shaky breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. That was... _awful._ He shivered. Wrapping his thin, pale arms around himself, he stared blankly at a gold wall in shock. 

_THUMP._

His silver cart rattled. 

He jerked in surprise and leaned over to look at the cart warily. The curtain that covered the bottom shelf of the cart shifted, and a faint burping noise sounded from inside of it. 

He reached a white hand out to grab the curtain and jerked it back quickly, revealing a sticky food covered five-year-old sitting atop a pile of biscuits. 

“Hey!” Jack shrieked, scowling as Omi tried to cling to the inside of the cart. He snatched the boy by the ear and hauled him out, feeling uncomfortably like his grandma had probably felt whenever shehad found _him_ doing something bad. 

“ _What_ do you think you’re doing in there? You’re not supposed to be here, _C_ _he_ _e_ _se_ _ball._ ” Jack demanded, shaking the kid by the ear. He must have crawled in while the Royals and Jack had been distracted. 

“No! No!” Omi cried, dramatic in the way that only children could be, tears streaking down his round cheeks. He had blueberries smeared onto the side of his chin. 

“ _No, No!”_ Jack mocked, rolling his red eyes. The kid cried harder before Jack squinted threateningly at him. Omi quieted down and sniffled sadly before smooshing his face into Jack’s blue apron and letting out a muffled “Please”. 

“No.” Jack said, crossing his arms. 

Omi pulled back and stared up at him with large round brown eyes. 

“Please?” Omi asked again, his voice small. Jack looked away and huffed. 

“You’re not cute. And the answer is still _no_.” 

Little hands wiggled in the air in the corner of Jack ‘s field of vision, trying to get his attention, but he kept his gaze stubbornly averted. 

A small, almost silent sniffle from the five-year-old broke his resolve. 

“Fine! Whatever!” Jack cried, throwing his hands up in the air as he scowled. He reached down and shoved a biscuit into the kid’s mouth before scooping him up and balancing him on his hip. “But if I get executed for kidnapping or something, that’s on _you_.” He grumped, moving to push his cart with the arm not holding Omi. 

“Ywah! Thfank Ywu” Omi cheered, trying to chew his biscuit and talk at the same time. 

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Jack griped. Omi snuggled his tiny head happily onto his shoulder in response. 

The albino and the young prince continued down the hall, unaware that they were being followed. 

When they reached the kitchen, Jack stopped outside the door and took the plate of biscuits out from the bottom shelf, handed a few to Omi, then placed the five-year-old inside the curtain on the bottom shelf. 

“You uh... Stay there. I’ll be right back!” Jack ordered lamely. Omi hummed in agreement around his biscuit, and Jack slid the curtain to hide the boy. He rushed into the kitchen, running past Kimiko on his way to refill the plate. As he hurried back to the cart he was stopped by Kimiko’s warm hand on his arm. 

“Jack? Are you alright? You look upset, did something happen?” She asked, concerned. The memory of Pandabubba groping him flitted uncomfortably across his mind before he pushed it away. 

“I’m fine! Really, I’m good. Thanks Kimiko, but I gotta hurry!” Jack blurted out, slipping from her grasp and returning to his cart. He pulled back the curtain and- _shit._

_‘That annoying little twerp!’_ Jack raged and cursed under his breath. Omi was gone. Jack circled the cart and found a trail of crumbs leading down the hallway. He followed it quickly, leaving his cart and biscuits behind. The trail was surprisingly long, leading Jack further away from the dining room. He followed it nervously while glancing around suspiciously. It felt _too_ quiet in these hallways. 

The crumb trail ended at an exit that lead out into the Royal gardens and he paused at the exit before shrugging to himself and stepping outside. It was night, but the gardens were lit with dozens of lanterns making it easy for him to see. However, Jack soon realized that although he had memorized the layout of the Palace, he had not memorized the layout of the gardens. 

He got lost. Fast. 

Tall bushes loaded with fragrant flowers and vines of every color surrounded him. Jack felt like he was trapped in the floral version of a corn maze. 

_“Omi”_ He hissed quietly, shaking a few bushes menacingly, “Come out here you little-” 

Something was dropped lightly around his neck and he looked down in surprise, it was the Lunar Locket! But hadn’t he dropped it during the heist when Chase had- 

“Come back to steal the last of the Shen Gong Wu, Little Thief?” A voice purred behind him and Jack whirled around in surprise to see Chase standing behind him. Thrown off by the sudden appearance of the dragon, Jack shrieked and tripped over a flower bush, falling ass-first into the flowers. 

“Chase! But how did you-” he started, staring up from the ground in shock as Chase crouched over him. 

“-Find out? That was _easy_. _”_ Chase grinned, seizing Jack’s ankle quickly and jerking his leg up, forcing Jack to fall flat on his back. 

“You left me a _hint.”_ Chase hissed, pointedly sliding his hand to push up Jack’s loose black pants and reveal his white calf and knee. 

Blood rushed to Jack’s cheeks at the sight of Chase leaned over him, his golden eyes fixed on him with such intensity that he could do nothing more than lie still and bask in the attention. A whole weeks' worth of tension that’d built up between them while Jack had been serving Chase tea at the Teahouse suddenly snapped. 

Slowly, agonizingly slowly, Chase leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jack’s exposed leg, as though the sight of his skin was something he could not resist. 

To Jack’s eternal embarrassment, he let out an involuntary keen at the touch. 

‘ _Oh,_ _w_ _hat is- Chase Young is- That_ _is_ _-_ very _welcome.’_ Jack thought faintly. Chase growled in response –holy shit he just _growled_ what- and started pressing tender kisses up Jack’s leg, his thumb brushing comfortingly over his ankle. 

Chase traveled up further, crowding Jack into the red flowers and looming over him. Lips pressed to the soft skin behind Jack’s knee. The albino twitched instinctively in response; the sensitive skin being touched brought him out of his aroused daze, his leg jerked on instinct to smack Chase's head away. 

The prince stared. His eyes wide like he’d been doused in water. 

“ _You!”_ Jack cried in realization as his mind cleared. 

He pointed a finger accusingly at the warlord prince “You’re the one who sent the comb! But why? If you knew, why didn’t you turn me in?” He scrambled backwards. It had to have been Chase! The comb had appeared a week ago, not long after he’d stolen the Wu. 

“Yes, I sent the Courtship Comb.” Chase said simply, watching him from a distance, “You have... captured my attention, Jack. I don’t want to turn you in, I want you to be _mine_ _._ ” 

“You want me to be yours? What, like a pet freak? Is that what this is?” Jack asked angrily, his red eyes flashing. He might be different from other people in appearance but that didn’t mean he should be treated like some exotic animal. 

“No.” Chase scowled, he looked agitated by the suggestion. 

“I have plans,Jack. I cannot speak plainly about them here, but I can say our goals are the same. I do not wish to fight you or keep you like some pet. Your skills have impressed me; I want to _know_ you . I want to know who you are and who you will be. If you accept my offer, Jack, you could be by my side as we rule this world, _together_.” Chase spoke, his golden eyes flashing. The strand of dark hair that hung down over his face was blown out of place, its delicate strands swept over the bridge of Chase’s sharp nose, giving him a wild appearance. 

“But... Why me?” Jack asked, stumped. 

Jack knew he was impressive skill-wise, Yawen had seen to that. Under her apprenticeship over the past few months his powers and strength had quickly grown and flourished. If he wanted to, Jack could use his metal magic to entrap Chase and escape right now, even without the Wu that were stashed in his apron. He wasn’t afraid of Chase Young -or anyone- anymore. 

What he meant was why did Chase want _Jack?_ Ugly, awkward, freakish looking Jack. People in this Universe gawked at him constantly, and while they didn’t flock to the Teahouse to stare at him and call him the “Teahouse Devil” anymore, they still whispered about his appearance behind his back. He wasn’t- he didn’t _look_ like he would be with Chase, who was probably the pinnacle of human attractiveness. He could have literally anyone else on this earth, why would he want Jack? 

“Why? Is it strange for me to want you? Because you think yourself... freakish?” Chase questioned slowly, seeming to understand what Jack’s question had meant. 

Chase cocked his head to the side, watching as Jack flinched and avoided his gaze at the word. 

“You are not freakish, Jack.” Chase stated firmly. The prince prowled towards where Jack sat glumly among a clump of little red flowers. He stopped just shy of looming above the albino, his gaze intense. 

He took Jack’s chin in his large hand and forced the younger to look into his eyes. 

“Your coloring... reminds me of the snow I would see on the battlefields in the North. Miles of white laid out before me, endless. The only color that graced it was the blood that I shed, painting its whiteness with every shade of red and black there is. It was _b_ _eautiful._ I used to dream of the sight often, but now when I dream, I see _you_ instead _._ _”_ Chase murmured. 

Jack’s eyes were wide. Shocked. 

Both of Chase’s hands came up to caress Jack’s face, smoothing reverently across his rouged cheeks and smearing his makeup. 

“I desire you.” Chase said bluntly, their faces mere centimeters apart. “I would have you now, right here upon the flowers. I would have you in my bed, every night. If you accept my offer, I would have you, _forever_ . ” 

Chase thought he didn’t know about the Lao Mang Lone soup or that he had given up his soul for immortality. But Jack did know, so he also knew that when Chase said forever, he really meant _forever_. 

Jack didn’t need to think after that one revelation, too wrapped up in the bliss of being desired by the one person he’d ever wanted to be desired by. He flung his arms around Chase’s broad shoulders and let out a gasping “ _Yes!”_

Grinning victoriously, Chase pressed down onto the albino and captured his red-painted lips. 

Jack whined, burrowing his fingers into dark hair. It _was_ as silky as he’d always imagined it’d be. 

That was the last coherent thought the albino had before large hands began wandering across his body, possessively stroking down his back. He lost himself in the kiss, nearly fainting when a tongue slid into his mouth. Chase claimed every inch of him like he wanted to burn the imprint of his mouth into his skin, for everyone to see and know that Jack was his. 

A twig snapped nearby, shocking them out of their kiss. 

Glaring up from the flowers they were lying in, the prince spotted a wayward group of guests from the party ambling through the garden. The guests hadn’t spotted them, so Chase lowered himself flat on top of the albino to hide him and waited in the flowers for the guests to pass by. 

On the ground, Jack trembled silently in the grass underneath the prince. His toes still curling from the kiss and the feeling of Chase’s larger body pressed over his. It felt like he was drunk and shot full of caffeine all at once, his limbs all jittery and shaking. With wide red eyes he stared up at Chase, one of his white hands coming up boldly to trace the sharp crease of the prince’s jaw. 

Gold eyes turned away from where they had been watching the guests to gaze down at Jack fondly. 

A breath caught in the albino’s throat. He had never been looked at like _that_ before. 

After the guests passed by, Chase elegantly peeled himself up off the ground. Jack scrambled up after him but ended up clumsily tipping over a large root. An arm shot out and captured his waist to steady him, pulling him in towards a warm chest. 

Giddy, Jack peered up at the warlord prince, his white hands pressed to strong shoulders. 

As he opened his mouth to thank Chase for catching him (again), he froze in realization. 

“ _Omi!”_ He shrieked instead, remembering the reason he was in the garden in the first place. Oh _shit._ Hopefully Chase wouldn’t be too pissed about him losing his favorite and only nephew, right? 

He started babbling out an explanation, tearing himself out of warm arms to check under a couple bushes. Chase merely held up a hand to silence him and snapped loudly. A few moments later, a tiger emerged from a bush slightly further down the path with the little Omi on its back. 

“You had him this whole time?” Jack cried, sending Chase an irritated glare. Chase only smiled smugly back at him. 

“Nice tiger... that’s right...” Jack nervously babbled as he trudged up to the tiger, snatching up Omi quickly and checking that the kid was alright. Not that he cared about the little cheeseball or anything. Nope. He just didn’t want to be executed for letting the Emperors’ grandson get his limbs nibbled off by a tiger. That’s all. 

Omi giggled as Jack checked him over, using his little hands to capture Jack’s bigger one and peer at his flower scars curiously. Jack grumbled but allowed Omi to look at them. The teen looked back at Chase and found the warlord watching them with a strange and contemplative expression. 

“Chase, you alright...?” Jack questioned, hefting Omi up onto his hip and moving closer hesitantly. 

“Hmm?” The other man seemed to snap out his thoughts, “Yes...” He replied slowly, moving in closer to press a guiding hand against the small of Jack’s back. 

“Let us return to the party, I’m sure my little nephew is hungry once again.” Chase teased, raising a brow at Omi, who’s stomach rumbled loudly right on cue. The five-year-old turned red in embarrassment and hid his round head in Jack’s neck. 

They returned to Jack’s abandoned cart together, and Jack handed Omi to the warlord in order to push his cart. Chase stopped him before he could start towards the dining room. 

“ _Jack.”_ He purred, fond, his large hands cupping Jack’s face. 

“Uh. Yes?” Jack asked uncertainly, voice muffled by the hands. 

“Think about my offer, I’ll be awaiting your response,” Chase punctuated the sentence by placing a soft kiss to Jack’s lips, “Also, you may want to look in a mirror before you return to the party.” he added slyly. As he withdrew, he slipped the Lunar Locket from Jack’s neck and pressed it into his hands, a gift. 

He left Jack wobbling in the hallway with dazed expression on his face. 

‘ _This night has not gone how I expected it to.’_ Jack thought distantly. 

Wandering back into the kitchen, his head in the clouds, he ran into Tomoko. 

She took one look at him and her eyes almost popped out of her head. Her vice-like hands gripped his arms and hauled him to the small room Lady Liao had taken them to earlier that evening. The little mirror from before was pressed into his hands as Tomoko appeared in front of him with a wet cloth. 

She rolled her eyes at the dopey expression on his face. 

“Get carried away with that secret admirer of yours, Jack?” She teased as he looked into the mirror and spluttered. 

‘ _Chase! That asshole...’_

Jack blushed despite his irritation. 

His was makeup smeared _everywhere_. Smudges of black and red across his cheeks and lips, he looked like he just came out of a battle with the Xiaolin Monks. He started grumpily rubbing at his face while Tomoko snickered. 

“Shut it, Tomoko! Don’t think I forgot about that one time I caught you in the supply closet with Shadow!” Jack hissed, his face red, which only made her laugh harder at him. 

“Alright, alright,” She caught her breath, “You’re lucky, you know. Lady Liao would be _pissed_ r ight now that you were missing , but she’s met some renowned martial arts teacher at the party and _-_ dear god it’s awful- he actually _likes_ her. Now all she’s been focused on the whole night is ‘Master Fung’ this and ‘Master Fung’ that.” Tomoko whined while fixing her golden-brown hair. He ignored her and continued to clean his face. 

“So, who is it?” She asked suddenly, leaning into his space and blocking his view of the mirror. Jack squawked and smacked her head away. 

“Who is what?” Jack asked distractedly, still rubbing at his red face. 

“Don’t play dumb with me, you know what I mean! Who’s your secret admirer?” She leaned in eagerly, her bronze eyes glinting. 

“I don’t know what you’re going on about, Tomoko.” Jack blushed, hunching over his mirror. 

She stared at him shrewdly for a moment, before a wicked grin split her lips. 

“Fine. Keep your secrets, but if you ask me... I think it’s a certain prince with black hair and gold eyes-” Jack shrieked and slapped a white hand over her traitorous mouth. 

He made her promise not to tell anyone about his “secret admirer” before they left the room about thirty minutes later. She agreed, since he kept her relationship with Shadow a secret. Together they returned to the dining room. Jack’s face was clean and rubbed raw, he didn’t put his makeup back on since his skin was so irritated. His pale eyebrows and skin drew some curious stares as they weaved through the crowd. 

“Jack, come here, dear!” A voice called out; Jack turned to see Lady Liao, Master Fung (still looking the same as he had in Jack’s original Universe) along with Raimundo, Clay, and Kimiko, the latter three people looking tortured. 

“Oh! Master Fung, this is Jack Spicer, one of my top employees! Jack, this is Master Fung. He’s a martial arts teacher from the outskirts of Quánlì, the best one there is! He’s even trained _royalty.”_ Lady Liao tittered, batting her brown eyes up at the man. Master Fung looked vaguely besotted. 

_‘Gross.’_ Jack whined mentally. Besides him, Raimundo had the same disturbed expression on his face. 

“And these two are Raimundo and Clay, though Kimiko says you’ve all met before? They’ve become Master Fung’s new students! We were just talking about...” She went on after that, because that woman loved to talk. Jack shared a tired look with Kimiko before he tuned out their conversation and let his gaze wander around the crowd. 

Across the room, he noticed that Chase was missing from the royal table, as was Pandabubba. Omi was seated on Shadow’s lap, munching away on a pastry. 

Disappointed by Chase’s absence, he turned his attention back to Lady Liao’s conversation. 

“-Ah, but with love, water is enough; without love, food does not satisfy.” Master Fung drawled mysteriously to Lady Liao, Jack hearing the tail end of their conversation. Lady Liao swooned embarrassingly, having absolutely no shame in her old-people-flirting. She tossed a grey-brown streaked lock of hair behind her ear. Master Fung turned red. 

“What does that even _mean_?” Raimundo cried, pulling at his hair in frustration. Clay patted his friend’s back consolingly while Master Fung glared at his student. 

“Excuse me?” Someone cut in suddenly, all six of them turned towards the new voice. 

It was Jermaine, the boy looked young to Jack, maybe around fifteen. He also looked very nervous. 

“Uh, I’m looking for my Uncle, he wandered off a while ago and I can’t find him? He’s a wide guy about this tall-” He made vague gesture with his hands, “-and has his hair in two buns?” Jermaine inquired, shifting his feet uncomfortably and looking around the room as he spoke. 

“What’s his name?” Kimiko asked. 

“Pandabubba.” Jermaine replied, and their small crowd frowned. 

“Haven’t seen ‘im, sorry little buddy.” Clay answered apologetically, the rest of them echoed the same. Jermaine thanked them and left, continuing his search for his Uncle. 

Jack frowned after him, something felt... not right. 

He excused himself from their group, telling Lady Liao that he needed to get back to work, and followed Jermaine. 

The boy wandered out into an empty hallway, Jack hid behind a jade column and took out his Monkey Staff and Changing Chopsticks. 

“Monkey Staff!” He whispered, feeling the transformation wash over him. Jack crawled up to the ceiling and swung from column to column silently, following Jermaine to a dark empty room. 

Jermaine huffed to himself, stressed. 

Jack watched as he pulled out a wide bowl and filled it with weird green water, before whispering something harshly. The water in the bowl began to shine, and thick green smoke billowed out of it. It rose to collect and shape into the forms of two people. 

_‘_ _Wuya_ _!’_ Jack stared in shock, one of the mist figures was Wuya! He had no clue who the other ugly guy was though. 

“Jermaine! Why did you call? Has something happened?” 

Oh, Jack knew that voice. That was Hannibal Roy Bean. 

“No, Father. But there has been a complication; Pandabubba is missing. He flirted with some creepy looking server and Chase got _pissed._ I suspect Chase killed him. What do I do now?” Jermaine asked, looking nervous. 

“Hmm, a server you said? Look into it. It might be a weak spot for Chase. And as for Pandabubba... My brother clings to his ideals of honor, if the fool went missing during his party, Dashi will probably let you stay in the Palace as a form of repayment. This may work out for us...” Hannibal mused, turning to look at Wuya. 

“Yes, Father.” Jermaine replied uncomfortably. 

“Good. And make sure you stay there until Chase Young challenges Guan and wins the throne. We are counting on you, Jermaine.” Hannibal ordered sternly before fizzling out of existence. 

Jack had to suppress a gasp of shock, suddenly glad that he’d decided to follow Jermaine. 

He waited in the shadows until he was sure Jermaine had left before sneaking back to the party and putting away the monkey staff. Thoughts and theories swarmed his head, wondering why Jermaine needed to be around the Palace, if Hannibal was the one who gave Chase the soup, and what Hannibal was up to... 

One thought buzzed frantically above them all in his skull as he went through the motions of serving tea. 

_‘Chase is going to become Emperor...’_

**-o)0(o-**

“I’ve found your son, Guan. He was wandering after a food cart.” Chase drawled, hefting his nephew up on his hip. 

“Ahh, thank you, Chase. Hand him over to Shadow.” Guan replied distractedly, barely sparing his son a quick glance before going back to his conversation with a monk from southern Hébìng. 

Chase’s brow twitched in irritation. 

_‘_ _Such carelessness with his only child_ _._ _’_ Omi could have been hurt by someone when he wandered off. It was fortunate that he had been with Jack. 

He gave Omi to Shadow, who immediately began to pile a plate full of sweets for her excitable nephew. 

_‘Jack...’_

Chase smirked. 

Perhaps he had lost some self-control during their earlier interaction, he hadn’t meant to go so far, but it seems to have worked in Chase’s favor. His pale beauty was so... receptive. He nearly let out a pleased hiss. He couldn’t wait to see his Courtship Comb clipped to Jack’s white hair, a sign of acceptance of Chase’s offer. How beautiful that sight will be... 

Scraping noises from a chair being moved drew him out of his ruminating. The _pest_ was standing up. A snarl crossed his lips before he schooled his expression back into something neutral. 

Pandabubba left the royal table with a flimsy excuse about the restroom. Chase slipped unnoticed from the table to trail behind the vile man. ‘ _Pathetic’_ He watched the man disdainfully from the shadows. Pandabubba thought himself so great, so powerful. Pandabubba was barely a warrior, he was nothing more than a rich brute from the south with a couple of partially competent warriors under his control. 

Pandabubba thought himself so great, that he thought he could _touch_ what did not belong to him. 

He made the mistake of touching what belonged to _Chase._ And he would pay dearly for his error, Chase would make sure of that. 

Claws sprouted from the tips of Chase’s fingers, tearing through his skin to glint menacingly in the dim hallway light. A vicious fanged grin cut across the prince’s face as he stepped out of the shadows directly behind Pandabubba. 

His dragon curled hungrily under his skin, begging for blood. 

Pandabubba turned around. 

**-o)0(o-**

Jack did not see Chase for the rest of the night, the warlord prince being kept busy by other important conversations with nobles and the wealthy. He returned to the Teahouse with the other Teahouse employees sometime after midnight, feeling bruised and exhausted from the hard day of work and whirlwind of events. 

A lamp flickered softly in his shared room as Kimiko and Tomoko readied for bed. 

Already curled in his mat, Jack burrowed into his blanket. Tenderly cradled in his hands was the Courtship Comb. His red eyes traced the shadows that played across its silver designs in the dim lamplight. 

His heart soared at the sight, giddy and content. He pressed the comb to his chest and thought wistfully of golden eyes and warm arms wrapped around him. It was like a dream come true; Chase Young wanted _him_. 

A smile crossed his white lips, gently folding his face into an expression of pure happiness. Jack Spicer was definitely moving up in the world. 

**Author's Note:**

> Chase Young is coming soon ;)))


End file.
